The Daughters of Gaia
by sparkyCSI
Summary: Follow The Daughters of Gaia [the Earth Goddess] during a turbulent time their lives. They must enlist the help of the Charmed Ones to save the planet! Please R&R. [Complete].
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! This is my first Charmed fan fiction and depending on the reaction to it may not be my last. This little plot bunny has been kicking around in my head for years and now my muse (Lexi) has decided to actually write it down. Please read and review! Lexi really lives for getting reviews. (For all of those who read my CSI: NY fan fiction, do not be alarmed. I am hard at work writing for those stories!)_

Chapter 1.

**Prologue**

She was standing in a room. The older woman sighed. _I'm so tired. I'm so ready for this life to be over._ She sighed as she walked over to a large circle inscribed on the floor and began to pace around it, knowing that this step was necessary. Calmly, she flipped her waist length auburn hair over her shoulders, the silver streaks in it becoming more evident. She decided that she had waited long enough. She gathered her strength and walked into the circle.

She took a deep breath. "I call upon the powers of the Earth. Land, Wind, Water, Fire and Metal. Bring forth Father Time!"

Winds surrounded her. The power contained in them left her breathless. Then in a shimmer, a tall, dark haired man appeared. "You called me Earth-Mother?"

The woman looked at the man. "You are certainly being formal, Kronos." She smiled.

Kronos turned and looked at her. "You started it, Gaia. You called me Father Time."

Gaia nodded and laughed. Her laughter was musical. "So I did. Yes, I did call you. It is time for the rebirth of the earth. It is time for me procreate and bear daughters to take over my reign."

Kronos turned nodded. "I forsaw this. You must leave the safety of the heaven and wish for me to make sure that you have something to come home to."

She smiled. "Kronos. This is the tradition. I ask you to watch over the land, while I am in the mortal realm. No more. No less. I will be gone less than a week."

Kronos sighed. He knew the rules. "Of course, Gaia. I will watch over it for you."

With his nod of agreement, she broke her circle of power and walked towards him. "Blessed me, my friend. You know that I have done the same for you." With that, she turned and walked out of the room.

**AN: **_ Okay, y'all. This does it for the first chapter! I'd love to hear what you think!!!_

_Updated May 18 to correct grammatical errors._


	2. The Five Elements

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! This is my first Charmed fan fiction and depending on the reaction to it may not be my last. This little plot bunny has been kicking around in my head for years and now my muse (Lexi) has decided to actually write it down. Please read and review! Lexi really lives for getting reviews. (For all of those who read my CSI: NY fan fiction, do not be alarmed. I am hard at work writing for those stories!)_

Chapter 2.

**The Five Elements**

**(Earth)**

The first memory that Kesia had was that of her mother cradling her. She was the oldest of the daughters and it was expected of her to take care of her sisters. She paused to look in the mirror. She was the first daughter to leave paradise for the mortal realm and she wanted to make sure she looked like a mortal.

Watching her reflection, she smoothed out her waist length black hair. She peered at her eyes. They were an emerald green color, framed by thick black lashes. Her eyebrows arched gently above her eyes, giving her a regal look. She then glanced down at her body. She was slender, but not skinny. She had curves in the right places. Smiling, she conjured some mortal clothes for her body. She chose some low-rise jeans with a green halter top. "Perfect."

She heard her mother clear her throat behind her and turned. "Yes, Mother?"

Gaia looked at Kesia. "Oh, my darling daughter. My first born. I am going to miss you. I know that this is part of growing up. If you hope to one day take my place, then you must spend this time in the mortal realm. You must see the intricate dance that good and evil do every day. You know that it is the job of the Earth-Mother to be completely neutral in the struggle."

Kesia sighed. "I know this, Mother. I promise, I will go and learn all I can. If I am chosen to be the Earth-Mother, then I want to make sure that I do the right thing."

Gaia smiled. "I'm lecturing again, aren't I?"

Kesia nodded. "Yes."

Gaia nodded again. "I'm sorry, dear. You are just the first daughter to leave and I'm feeling a little forlorn. Just promise that you will be careful."

Kesia smiled. "I know, Mother. To tell you the truth, I am a little nervous as well. I promise to work on my magic control."

Gaia blinked back some tears and opened her arms for a hug. Kesia walked over and felt herself embraced and surrounded by the love that Gaia felt her.

Gaia felt a subtle caress of thoughts next to her own. _: Yes, Kronos?:_

_:Gaia. It's time. I will take your daughter to the mortal realm if you want.:_

_:Thank you. I open my wards for you to enter.:_ Silently, Gaia made an opening in the magical protections surrounding her fortress. Then, she softly kissed the top of Kesia's head. "Kronos is here to take you to the mortal realm. Have you decided on a place to live, yet?"

Kesia nodded. "I've decided to live in New York." She turned as Kronos walked into the room. "Hi, Kronos. Thank you for taking me to the mortal realm."

Kronos smiled as his deep blue eyes twinkled. "Of course, my dear. Anything to help Gaia out. Are you ready to leave?"

Kesia nodded. "Yes. I've already said good-bye to my sisters."

Kronos held out his hand to her. "Then come with me, little one"

Kesia picked up her bag and then took his hand. She took one last glance at her mother before Kronos transported them to the city.

The first thing that Kesia noticed was the noise. She felt Kronos squeeze her hand, so she looked up at him.

"I have to go now. Stay safe."

Kesia nodded. "Thanks, Kronos." She waved at him as he disappeared. Then she picked up her bag and began to walk to the apartment building she had picked out to live in.

Several hours later, she was all moved in to her furnished apartment and decided to go look for a job. She knew that being in the mortal realm, she had certain choices. With her powers, she was just a powerful witch at this time. _But,_ she thought, _even powerful witches need a way to make a living._

She thought about what she was interested in. _I really like law and order. Maybe I can get a job on the police force._ With that thought, she decided to go apply at the police academy.

(Six Months Later)

Kesia stood in uniform with the remaining members of her recruitment class. She was proud of herself for completing the rigorous training. She had learned a lot about herself in these six months.

"Nervous?"

Kesia turned around as smiled when she saw a good looking blonde with blue eyes approaching her. "Hey, David. Why would I be nervous?"

"We graduate today. Now we get to go patrol the mean streets of New York. The thought of getting shot doesn't scare you?"

Kesia shook her head, no. "No. It takes a lot to scare me. I know that I can take care of myself."

Before they could continue the conversation, they were asked to take their seats. Kesia waited proudly before her name was called. "Kesia Clark."

Kesia smiled as she walked across the stage to pick up her diploma. As she glanced out at the crowd, she saw the familiar face of Kronos. She gave him a quick smile and decided to try to talk to him telepathically. _:Kronos? What are you doing here?:_

_:I wanted to see your big day. Your mother mentioned that you were graduating today.:_

_:Is Mother here?:_

_:No. She and the girls are watching from above. She didn't want to cause a disturbance by coming down and she doesn't trust the girls down here, yet.:_

Kesia gave him a small smile and sat back down. After the diplomas had been handed out, they went to attend a small reception. She was talking with David when she felt a light touch on her shoulder. When she turned she saw Kronos smiling at her. "Hey! Thanks so much for coming. I just wish that Mother could have been here."

"I know. She had to take care of the girls."

Kesia heard David clear his throat behind her. "Oh. I'm sorry. David, I'd like you to meet an old friend, Casey. Casey, this is one of my classmates and a current good friend, David."

Both men shook hands. Kesia caught a glimpse of Kronos' raised eyebrow. _:Sorry. Casey was the best I could do on the spot. I obviously can't introduce you as Kronos, can I?:_

_:You're right, of course. I would have preferred something like Philippe, though.:_

_:Whatever.:_ Kesia glanced at David, who had an unusual expression. "Are you okay, David?"

David looked at her. "I'm fine. Just getting a little tired. Time flies when you're having fun. I just want to learn my new assignment."

"Me, too. I believe that we are supposed to learn them tomorrow. I hope that we get assigned to the same precinct. That way I'll know at least one person!"

_:Kesia? I need to go. Will you be alright?:_

_:I'm a big girl, Kronos. I'll be fine. Tell Mother that I miss her.:_

_:I will. Until next time.:_

Kesia watched as he made his way outside and sighed a little. David noticed her mood and asked her what was wrong. "Nothing. I just miss my family. I didn't realize that I would miss my sisters so much."

"How many sisters do you have?"

"Four. I'm the oldest at twenty-four. Kansas is twenty-two, Kai is twenty, Kim is eighteen and Keahi is sixteen."

"Wow. Your mom must be very busy."

Kesia shrugged. "Little bit. It's probably better now that we are for the most part grown. We can pull our own weight. It was Mother that told me to move out. She said that the only way I would finish growing up would be to be on my own. Still it doesn't surprise me that Casey was here. Even if Mother couldn't be, she would want someone here that I know well."

"Speaking of Casey. How long have you known him?"

"All my life. He's a friend of my mother's. He's like a big brother to us."

"Really?" David looked curious. "He didn't look old enough."

Kesia laughed. "He carries his age very well." She signed. "I should leave. I'm really tired and need to hit the sack. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Be careful on the way home. See you tomorrow."

Kesia waved good-bye and turned to go change her clothes. Once changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she grabbed her bag and made her way to her apartment. About two blocks from her apartment, she heard scuffling noises coming from the alleyway. Not thinking about her personal safety, she turned into the alley.

Silently she made her way to the sounds and almost gasped out loud to see a black and red demon attacking a slender blonde woman. The woman was trying to fight back but the demon was too strong for her. Kesia made up her mind quickly and extended her arms. Around her, the pavement of the alley began to shake. The windows rattled ominously as a couple of loose bricks fell to the ground. Then, with a noise that sounded like a gunshot, a chasm appeared underneath the demon. The demon tried to jump out of the way, but the breach was too wide. With a scream it fell into the pit she had created. As soon as the demon vanished, she quickly closed the rift so that the demon could not get out.

Then she made her way over to the woman. "Are you alright?"

The woman was shaking. "I'm not sure. I thought I was prepared for it, but I wasn't. I guess I'm just lucky that you came along. I'm Stacy, by the way."

"Hi, Stacy. I'm Kesia. Do you have a safe place to go?"

The young woman looked up. "Yes. I need to go back to my teacher's apartment. She warned me not to go hunting without her, but I thought I was ready. Now I realize how wrong I was. Thank you so much for your help."

"You're welcome. Stay out of dark alleyways."

Stacy laughed. "I will." She turned and walked away.

Kesia stood there for another moment. _So that's what it feels like to use my power for good. That's nice. I guess I can do this during my off hours. This just feels right._ With those positive thoughts, she made her way home.

**(Wind)**

Kansas peered at herself in the mirror, much like her older sister Kesia had done when she had left paradise. She also had dressed in jeans and a shirt to prepare for her journey into the mortal world.

She was as different from Kesia as night and day. She had white-blonde hair, with dark grey eyes. While Kesia was fairly tall, she was short. The only thing they had in common was the nice curves that all of Gaia's daughters had.

Overall she was pleased with her appearance and was ready to go. Almost bouncing with joy, she made her way into Gaia's work room. "Mother. I'm ready to go. Can I leave now?"

Gaia looked at her second oldest. "Well, you are certainly eager to leave."

Kansas looked at Gaia. "I know. It's been a year since Kesia left and I just want to join her. Plus, this way I'll actually get a chance to see her in person! We can talk on the telephone. I miss talking to her."

Gaia laughed. "Okay. I understand. Kronos will be coming to take you down, like he did with Kesia. Have you decided where you want to go?"

Kansas smiled. "Chicago. For some reason, every time I look at the map, my eyes get drawn there."

Gaia smiled. "I know the feeling. That's what happened when I first went down. I ended up in Egypt. Of course, things have really changed over the last four-thousand years, so who knows where I would end up now."

Kansas laughed and then screamed in delight as she saw Kronos walk in. "Kronos!!" She ran over to him and gave him a hug.

Kronos raised his eyebrows. "Are you excited?"

"Yes! I want to go to Chicago. Can we leave now?"

"Hold on, little whirlwind. I need to talk to your Mother a second. Go make sure that you haven't left anything behind." He turned to Gaia as Kansas flew out of the room. "Are you okay? Another bird is flying the coop."

Gaia smiled. "I know. It's sad, but it's for the best. Unlike you, Gaia is no longer immortal. While we lead very long lives, it gets tiring. I'm ready to be reborn."

Kronos nodded in solidarity. "I completely understand. Sometimes I wish that I could be reborn. They say that time heals all wounds, but what heals time's wounds?"

Gaia smiled. "The Earth. Wow. You certainly are maudlin today."

Kronos chuckled. "It happens. I'll bounce back eventually. Speaking of which, I hear Kansas coming. We'll talk later." He turned to Kansas as she bounced back into the room. "You ready to go?"

Kansas looked at him. "You bet." She quickly grabbed his hand and Kronos quickly transported her to Chicago.

When Kansas got her bearings, she noticed the life that was present in the city. "Wow. It's so lively here. Thanks for bringing me here."

Kronos smiled. "Not a problem, little whirlwind. Go make yourself a life." With a smile, he disappeared.

Kansas looked around. _Well, the first thing I need to do is get a place to live._ She walked down the street and saw a sign for an apartment for rent. She walked in and soon was in possession of a small loft apartment.

Within a couple of days, she had a job as a receptionist with a law firm. She walked into work the first day, eager to learn and to make a difference. One of the women that she worked with invited her out at the end of her first week and she eagerly accepted.

At the end of the day, Kansas stood up behind her desk. "Maggie? Are we still going out tonight?"

The feisty redhead smiled. "Sure are! Are you ready?"

"I am. Do I look okay? This is my first time in a big city and I'm a little nervous."

Maggie looked Kansas. "Hon. Don't worry. You are gorgeous. Just stick with me and you'll be fine."

Nodding, Kansas followed Maggie to the nearest bar. She knew what alcohol was from parties that her sisters had thrown and limited herself to drinking as little as possible, but Maggie made sure that she had fun.

Halfway through the night, Maggie sent her to the bar to get another round of drinks. She was standing there, waiting for the drinks, when a handsome, dark-haired man walked up. "Hi. My name is Mark. You must be new around here because I would definitely remember you."

Kansas looked at him carefully. "I'm Kansas. I'm not from the city, I just moved here. Nice to meet you."

Mark looked at her. "Can I buy you a drink?"

Kansas smiled. "Sorry, I don't accept drinks from men that I've just met." The bartender walked up at that time with all of the drinks that she ordered. "If you'll excuse me, I have to get back to my friends." She picked up the drinks and walked away.

When she got back to the table, Maggie exclaimed, "Who was the hottie that you were talking to at the bar?"

"Um. His name is Mark and he offered to buy me a drink. I declined."

Maggie raised her eyebrows. "You declined? Oh, girl. I've got to teach you how to pick guys up!"

Kansas rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'll do just fine. I'm just playing hard to get." She smiled as she saw Mark walking towards her. "See?"

"Hello, ladies. I was wondering if Kansas would do me the honor of dancing with me."

Kansas smiled, "Sure."

The two got out on the dance floor and proceeded to dance the majority of the night. Finally, Maggie and Kansas decided to leave about one. Kansas had given Mark her phone number.

The next day, Kansas woke up and decided to call Kesia. "Hey, sis."

"_Hey, Kansas! How are you doing?"_

"I'm good. How are you doing as a cop?"

"_Good. It's nice to help someone. On the downside, I've been fighting demons recently. It's unusual. Do you remember how we used to watch the battles of witches and demons?"_

"Yeah."

"_It's nothing like what we imagined. It's hard, but I feel this need to help. Does that make sense?"_

"Not really. I haven't encountered any demons yet."

"_I didn't encounter one until I had been down here six months. Maybe they will give you a break. So what have you decided to do?"_

"Well, I took a job at a law firm and I'm thinking about going to law school. For some reason, fighting for good seems like the best idea. What do you think?"

"_I understand what you're saying. That's why I became a cop. Is this something innate in us? I know that the Earth-Mother is supposed to be neutral. If so, why do I feel compelled to fight for the light?"_

"I don't know. But we are down here to learn and grow. Maybe that is part of the process. Well, sis. I need to go. I'm going to go explore the city."

"_Okay. Kansas? Stay safe and keep your eyes open. I love you."_

"I will. I love you, too." Kansas hung up the phone and got ready to go out.

(Six Months Later)

Kansas got ready to go out in celebration of end of her first semester in law school. She had plans with Maggie and her boyfriend, John. Mark was also going to be joining her. She had been dating him for about four months and admitted her herself that she was quickly falling in love.

She had just gotten finished with her last exam and was walking towards the bar when she heard the commotion. Trusting her instincts, she followed the sounds to a dark street. Almost in shock, she realized that she was seeing a black and green demon. He was trying to capture a young witch, who was fighting back fairly well, until the second demon showed up.

_Two against one. That's just not fair. I'm going to even the odds,_ she thought as she walked towards the battle. She walked silently, wanting to give the demons no indication that she was coming to the rescue.

Quickly, when she was in range, she created a wind storm around the two demons. This gave the young witch a chance to back away from the demons, while Kansas left them in place. "Thank you so much for helping me. I was doing just fine with one, but the second one was too much. I'm Tiffany."

"Hi, Tiffany. I'm Kansas. What do you say to finishing these guys off?"

Tiffany nodded and quickly shot lightning at the two demons. The demons caught fire and soon were dead. Both girls looked at each other. "That was interesting," Tiffany said.

"Yes, it was. Those are the first demons that I've fought here. Listen, I'm going to celebrate the end of my first semester in college. Do you want to join me?"

Tiffany shook her head, no. "I'd like to, but I have plans. Maybe we will meet each other again." Tiffany waived good-bye to her and left.

Kansas smiled and turned to leave. _I think I'll fit in here. I'm definitely going to have fun!_

**(Water)**

Kai looked into the bowl that showed the earth. With a thought, she shifted the scene from Kesia to Kansas. _They look like they are having fun. I hope I get to go down soon. I miss them._

Gaia walked in and saw the expression on Kai's face. "Darling, what's wrong?"

Kai looked up, her mahogany hair glimmering in the light. "I just miss Kesia and Kansas. When do I get to go into the mortal realm?"

Gaia looked at her daughter. "That's what I was coming to tell you. Kansas has been down there for a year, so it's your time."

Kai looked up in amazement. "Really? It's time for me to go?" Her hazel eyes gleamed in anticipation. "Thank you, Mother."

Gaia smiled. "Not a problem. Why don't you go get packed? I'll contact Kronos and see when he has time to take you down."

Kai quickly ran to her room. She had taken her cue from Kesia and Kansas and had conjured some mortal clothes. She had a more dramatic flare than the other two girls. She smiled as she worked. She couldn't wait to get down. After she was done packing, she walked back into Gaia's workroom. "Mother? What did Kronos say?"

Gaia smiled. "He said he could come by tomorrow. Where do you plan on going?"

Kai smiled brightly. "Since I control water, I was thinking Miami. I've looked down there a little while in here and it just looks like so much fun."

"Good choice. I think that you will like it there."

The next day, Kai waited patiently for Kronos to arrive. When he got there, she smiled at him. "Hi, Kronos. I'm ready to go whenever you are."

Kronos looked at her in surprise. Of the five sisters, she was usually the most reserved. "Okay. Where are we going?"

"Miami."

Gaia walked into the room. "Hi, Kronos. Are you ready to take Kai down?"

Kronos nodded. "I am. You are taking this rather well, Gaia."

Gaia shrugged. "Well, this is the third time I've sent a daughter down, so I'm getting used to it." She turned to Kai. "Kai. Be careful and stay safe. If you have any problems, feel free to contact your sisters."

"Yes, Mother." Kai turned to Kronos and held out her hand. Kronos took her hand and they were soon in Miami.

The first thing she noticed was the heat. "Wow. This is different."

Kronos smiled down at her. "That it is. Well, water sprite, I must go. Good luck and stay safe." He waved good-bye to her as he disappeared.

Kai walked down the road and decided to look for a place to live. Within a couple of hours, she had a small apartment and a job as a waitress at a restaurant on the beach. She was lucky that her first day was a weekday and the business was slow.

It took her a couple of days to pick up the routine, but she found herself coming out of her shell. She noticed that she was more open that she had been before. She was speaking to the customers on a regular basis.

A few weeks into her job, she decided to try surfing. One of her regular customers had offered to teach her. When she got to the beach, she looked around for Holly and found the cute blonde standing by a man who had the body of Adonis. She was easy to spot in a bright pink bikini.

She walked up to her. "Hi, Holly. So am I dressed appropriately for surfing?"

Holly looked her up in down. She had her long brown hair pulled into a high pony-tail and was wearing a simple blue bikini. "Yes. Are you ready to learn the basics?"

Kai nodded in eagerness.

Holly showed her to a surfboard and quickly instructed her how to paddle out into the water. Soon, she was teaching her how to mount the board on a wave.

Kai was ecstatic when she caught her first wave. She loved feeling the power of the ocean underneath her. With her first successful ride, she was hooked. When she got back to the beach, she quickly hugged Holly. "Wow. That was stellar. I am so going to go back out there!"

Holly laughed. "I'm glad you had fun. I must say, you are a natural. Soon, you will be able to surf the big waves of Hawaii. They have the best waves there. Listen, I want you to meet someone. Follow me."

Kai followed Holly down the beach. When Holly stopped, she looked around. "Okay. What are we doing here?"

Holly smiled with a twinkle in her eye. "I want you to meet one of my surfer friends. His name is Ben. He's another person like you. Naturally talented and crap with surfing. I think you guys might hit if off. He's out in the surf right now." She pointed to a sandy haired guy wearing blue board shorts. "That's him."

Kai followed her gaze and looked at Ben. "Wow. He is good."

Holly agreed and called him over when he walked onto the beach. "Ben, I'd like you to meet Kai. She just moved here and is a natural at surfing."

Ben shook the water out of his hair. "Hey. How are you doing?"

Kai smiled at him. "I'm good. You look good out there. Mind if you give a rookie an attempt at those waves?"

Ben smiled. "Not a problem. I'll go out there with you to see if you need any help."

With that the couple jumped in the ocean and began to paddle out. Once out on the water, Ben looked at her. "So where are you from?"

Kai thought quickly. She knew that the other girls were telling everyone that they were from a small town in Ohio. " A small town in Ohio. There were less than a hundred people there, so my mother home schooled us. I was just tired of the small town life."

Ben picked up on the 'us' comment. "Us? Do you have brothers and sisters?"

Kai smiled. "Four sisters. I'm the middle one. Kesia and Kansas are older while Kim and Keahi are younger than me."

"Wow. It must have been difficult getting the bathroom in your house."

"Not really. We had plenty of space. So what about you?"

"I'm from a small town around here. I just needed to get out of town when I graduated. Seemed like a good thing to come around here. I got a good job working on a tour boat and life gives me time to get a lot of surfing when I'm in port."

"Any brothers or sisters?"

"Nope. I'm an only child. I always wished I had a brother growing up. Oh! Look at this wave coming in. Let's take a shot at it." With that, they both turned their boards around and began to paddle hard.

A few minutes later, they were back on the beach. Kai laughed. "Wow. That was so cool!"

Ben smiled. "Would you like to go to dinner with me?"

Kai nodded shyly. "I'd love to."

(Six Months Later)

Kai laughed as she caught another wave. She and Ben were having a contest to see who could catch the most waves. So far, she was ahead by two waves.

"I swear you're cheating somehow!" Ben called in from shore. His board had broken on the last wave.

She let the comment go while she concentrated on not breaking her own board. When she got back to shore, she poked him. "I do not cheat! It's not my fault you broke your board." She tried to continue on in that line, but she was having problems keeping a straight face. She broke out in the giggles. "Sorry, I can't help it. Usually it's me that breaks a board, not you!"

Ben nodded his head. "I had that coming, especially since I always make fun of you and how you break your board. Let's go grab something to eat."

Kai nodded and they left the beach to go to a little crab shack that they knew. They met up with some of their surfing friends and spent half the night dancing. It was a little after two, when they decided to go home. Kai kissed Ben goodnight and left to walk to her apartment. As she was walking along the beach, she heard a woman scream.

Not thinking about her own safety, she followed the sound until she came upon the sight of a black haired woman being attacked by a massive orange demon. The woman kept screaming no at the top of her lungs.

Kai didn't even think about not acting, she quickly used her power to surround the demon in a whirlwind of water. The woman didn't even notice that she was not being attacked any longer until Kai yelled, "Run!"

The woman scooted back from the demon and then got to her feet. She ran towards the street in a panic just as the demon broke through the water. _Crap, _Kai thought. She quickly called for more water power and surrounded the demon again. She used the power of the water to push the demon out to sea and far from the beach. When she turned to check on the woman, she was gone.

Shaking, she almost ran home. This was the first time that she had used her powers that much. Her fingers were shaking so hard that she almost couldn't dial the phone.

"_H'Lo?"_

"Kesia, it's Kai. I just got attacked by a demon or rather a demon was attacking this mortal woman and I stopped it. I'm so scared now."

"_Calm down, little sis. It's okay. It happens to all of us. I take it you've been down here from about six months?"_

"How'd you know?"

"_That's how it happened to me and to Kansas. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. We fight demons all the time now. It gets a little easier with practice. It also helps if you find another witch to help you out."_

By this time, Kai's heart had stopped racing. "Really? I hadn't thought about it. I've just been busy living my life. It's fun down here. You know what? I just realized that in about a year and a half, all of us will be down here. That will be nice to all be together again."

"_That it will. Listen. I've got to go, I have to be at work in about twenty minutes, so I need to get ready. You take care of yourself. Stay safe. Feel free to call me anytime."_

"I will. Thanks for helping me out."

Kesia laughed. _"That's what older sisters are for. G'night."_

"Night."

**(Metal)**

Kim was sitting in her room, feeling a little bit lonely. She never realized how much she would miss her sisters. It had been three years since Kesia had left and each year another sister left. She knew that she would be going down soon and that's the only thing that kept the majority of the loneliness at bay. She sighed as she reread another book on magic.

Gaia knocked on Kim's door. She knew that she missed her sisters and was happy to be able to tell her that it was her turn to go to the mortal realm. She went into her room after Kim had given permission. "Kim?"

Kim barely looked up from her book. "Yes, Mother?"

"Tomorrow it's your turn to go down. Are you ready?"

Kim's bright blue eyes lit up at the prospect of seeing her sisters again. "Really? I am so ready to go."

Gaia smiled. "I knew that you would say that. Have you decided where you want to go?"

Kim nodded. "Yes. I want to go to Dallas. It just seems like that is the best place for me."

Gaia nodded. "I understand. Trust your instincts. Go ahead and pack all of your belongings. Kronos will be here tomorrow to see you off."

Kim jumped up off her bed and quickly began to pack everything up. She made a decision at that time. _I think it's time for me to cut my hair. This feels like a new start to my life and I need a change._ Quickly, she grabbed a pair of scissors and soon her waist length black hair was cut into a short almost boyish style.

The next day, she met Gaia in her workroom. Gaia looked shocked at the lack of hair on her head. "Kim? You cut your hair? You never wanted a haircut before."

Kim looked at her. "I know. It just seemed right and you did tell me to trust my instincts. It's so much lighter, now."

Gaia looked at her daughter. "It suits you. I like it. Are you all packed?"

"Yes, ma'am. I've already said good-bye to Keahi. I feel a little bad for her, though. She'll be the only one up here until next year."

Gaia looked at her daughter. "I know. I know that you've been lonely up here. I think that she'll be okay. It will help that we can just look down and see any of you whenever we want." She paused. "Kronos is here. Are you ready?"

Kim just nodded as Kronos walked in. She saw him do a double take as he looked at her hair. "Hi, Kronos."

"Kim? You cut your hair."

"I needed a change. Do you like it?"

"It suits you. Have you said you're good-byes?"

"Yes. I'm ready." She took his extended hand and waived to Gaia as she disappeared.

Gaia sighed. _Only one daughter left to go. I worry about them so much. But I have to trust them. I've raised them as best I can._

When Kim opened her eyes, she was standing in street. She noticed the press of people around her. "Wow. Thanks, Kronos."

"You're most welcome. Stay safe and take care of yourself."

"I will." Kim turned into the crowd and tried to decide what she wanted to do. _I need to get a place to live and find job._

A couple of hours later, she was the proud renter of a small apartment and had a lead on a job for an up and coming band. They needed someone to help them answer all their fan mail. She took the job and was happy do be doing something.

The band was really nice. The lead singer, Darren was around her age and seemed to be really cool. He said that one of the reasons that they had chosen her was her look. They said that she looked edgy.

A few weeks later, she was still happy with her job. She had gotten to the point where she and the band hung out constantly. They cried on her shoulder about their rotten girlfriends and she made the appropriate responses by saying that the girls were idiots.

She had decided that she needed a night away from the guys and invited the bass player and the drummer's girlfriends for a girl's night out. Max was the bass player and Ed was the drummer. Ashley and Amanda were their girlfriends. Both of them were blue-eyed blonds.

Ashley looked at her first when they got to the restaurant. "So, what do you think of Darren?"

Kim looked at her. "Huh?"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that! He's always, Kim this and Kim that. He's seriously into you!"

"Really?"

Ashley looked at her. "Oh yeah."

"I hadn't really thought about it. He's really been nice to me since I moved here. He is really cute."

Amanda looked at her. "You should go for it. Seriously, y'all make a great couple."

"You think?" At both of the girl's nods, she blushed a little bit. "Wow. I never realized."

The women talked for a little more, with both women giving Kim some advice on Darren. It mostly consisted of be herself.

Amanda put it best. She said, "He likes you for who you are now. Don't change that. Keep being yourself and it'll work out if it's meant to be."

She left the women after a couple of hours and decided to call Kai. She knew that Kai was the best at emotional things. Smiling, she dialed the phone.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Kai. It's Kim."

"_Hey. What's going on?"_

"I have a question for you."

"_Okay. Shoot."_

"I'm working for this band here in Dallas and two of the guy's girlfriends told me that the lead singer likes me. How do I play this?"

"_Well, the question is, do you like him?"_

Kim thought about that. "Yeah. I think I do. He's been really great since I got to Dallas. He's cute and when I'm talking to him, it's like I've known him all my life."

"_Then that answer's your question. You like him, they think he likes you. If he makes a move, then go for it! Just make sure that you don't unintentionally give him the wrong idea that you don't like him. Just be yourself."_

Kim sighed. "That's what everyone keeps saying. Just be myself. The problem is, do I tell him who I really am?"

"_Kim."_ Kim could almost feel Kai rolling her eyes. _"You know what could happen to him if you tell him. If you do tell him, then you need to make sure that he is in for the long haul."_

Kim nodded to herself. "You're right. I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing. Thanks. I needed a swift kick in the head."

Kai laughed. _"That's what sisters are for! I'll talk to you soon. Bye!"_

"Bye." Kim sighed as she hung up the phone. She was prepared to wait for Darren to make his move.

(Three Months Later)

Kim was answering some fan mail when Darren walked in. She looked up and smiled at him. "Hey, you. What's going on?" She was slightly frustrated with him, he had yet to ask her out.

Darren shuffled his feet and looked anywhere but straight at her. "Not much. Um. I have a question for you."

Kim looked at him. "Okay. Shoot."

Darren looked at her. "Um…Would you like to go out with me? I mean if it's not too weird. You don't have to. I still want you to work for us, even if you say no, but if it'll be too weird, then you can forget that this conversation ever happened."

Kim sat there, in stunned silence. Not only was he asking her out, but he was babbling about it. Darren took her silence as a sign that she wasn't interested and turned to leave. She quickly stood up. "Wait! Don't go."

Darren turned, with a faint hope shining in his eyes.

Kim looked him square in the eyes. "I would love to. You just took me by surprise."

Darren smiled. "Cool. How about tonight?"

"Sounds good."

"Okay. I'll pick you up at your apartment at about eight. Is that okay?"

"Perfect. Let me get done with this last letter and I'll go and get ready." Darren nodded his agreement at that. Quickly, with wings on her heart, she finished typing the response to the fan mail and then left the office.

While she was walking home, she saw a fireball come flying out of the alley. Quickly, she moved towards it, her heart in her throat. _Wow. It's only been three months and I'm seeing demons already. This can't be a good sign._ She peered around a corner and found three black and purple demons surrounding a young boy, who looked to be about eight or nine. The boy looked terrified as the demons showed him a wicked looking knife.

Quickly, she invoked a power that made her attract anything made of a metal and the knife flew towards her. "What do you think you are doing to this boy?"

The demons just sneered at her as they turned towards her. She quickly called on the minerals of the earth. She shaped several of the metal trashcans into balls and hurled them towards the demons. The demons tried to dodge the projectiles however they were not able to dodge them all. Quickly, she decided another tactic and shaped the trashcan lids into flying discs with razor sharp edges. She sent them flying at the demons. Two of the demons saw the discs flying towards them and decided to shimmer out of the way to safety. One was not so luck. As soon as he realized the weapon was coming towards him, it was too late. The disc quickly beheaded him.

Seeing that the danger had passed, Kim walked towards the boy. "Are you okay?"

The boy gulped and looked like he was about to throw up. "Ha...Ha…how did you do that?"

She smiled at the boy, she could see that he had the potential to be a very powerful warlock. "Magic. It's also magic that drew those demons to you. You will be very powerful when you are trained."

The boy shook his head. "I'm going to be a magician?"

Kim smiled. "Yes. You will be a very powerful warlock in time." She heard running footsteps coming towards her and turned to find a very powerful and angry warlock looking at her.

"You will not hurt my student."

She looked at him. "Please, _sensei_, I mean no harm. I chased away the demons that were attacking him. He had no idea what was going on. Here is one of the demons that are responsible." She moved out of the way and saw the man's face blanch at the sight of the headless demon.

He bowed to her. "I am sorry that I made an unfair assumption. Thank you for saving his life."

"No problem. It was my pleasure. Now if you will excuse me, I have an appointment." She quickly turned to leave, but stopped when she heard the man ask what her name was. "I'm Kim."

"Thank you, Kim. I'm Alec and this young man is Timothy. If you ever need anything, here is my card."

Kim accepted the card and bowed to the man before she left. _That wasn't so bad. Now the fun begins!_

**(Fire)**

Keahi ran a brush through her bright red hair. Gaia had told her last night that she was getting to go down to Earth the next day and she was nervous. As the youngest of Gaia's daughters, she was the most serious. She had watched her sister's on Earth and was nervous about what she was going down to.

Sighing, she decided to make sure that everything was packed. She went through her wardrobe and then her bookcases, deciding what it was that she wanted to take. She decided to take some of her books on demons, knowing that she would need them for when she faced her first demon.

As she packed, the butterflies in her stomach seemed to grow until she was faintly nauseous. Miffed at why she was not excited, she decided to go talk to Gaia.

She walked slowly into Gaia's workroom. "Mother?"

Gaia turned around. "Yes, dear. Are you excited about finally getting to leave?"

Keahi sighed. "I'm not sure. I've got a bad feeling about this. The butterflies in my stomach are the size of bunnies!"

Gaia smiled. "It's natural to be nervous, darling. This is just part of life."

Keahi shook her head. "It's more than that, Mother. I have a really bad feeling. I've never felt this way before."

Gaia furrowed her brow. "I'll look into it for you, but it's time for you to leave. I can delay going for a couple of hours, but if you don't go down within a year of the date that your last sister did, it's possible for all of you to lose your powers. That's why I waited until Kesia was twenty-four before I sent her."

Keahi smiled. "I understand. I'm not saying that I won't go, but just having you check into makes me feel better."

Gaia started to reply but Kronos walked in. "Hi, Kronos. Can you stay here for a couple of hours? There's something I need to take care of before Keahi leaves."

"Sure." Kronos looked puzzled. _:Gaia? Is everything alright?:_

_:No. Keahi is having a troubling feeling about her going down. I think it might be the beginnings of a premonition, but with her up here, it's not having its full affect due to my shields. I need to check with the Elders.:_

_:Okay. I'll stay here until you get back, then the firecracker and I will go down.:_

_:Thanks.:_

This conversation had taken place in the few seconds that it had taken Gaia to walk out of the workroom. She walked out of sight of Keahi then she disappeared.

Keahi looked at Kronos when he walked in. After her mother had left, she turned to him. "Hi, Kronos. I'm sorry I'm such a bother. I just have this feeling that I can not shake that something is going to go very wrong."

Kronos smiled. "Don't worry about it firecracker. I have all the time in the world." He smirked as he said that.

Keahi just rolled her eyes and began to laugh uncontrollably. "You did not just say that! What an awful pun."

"Hey! I am Father Time. If I don't have time, who does?"

Keahi just giggled.

"So have you decided where you want to go?"

She thought for a moment. "I think I want to go to San Francisco. It seems like a nice city."

Kronos thought for a moment. "It is a nice city. I think that you will like it there."

They talked for a few more minutes before Gaia got back. Keahi looked at her in hope. "So, what did you find out?"

"Nothing. There's nothing that is coming up on my radar. I looked. We'll just pass this off as nerves for now, but trust your instincts when you get down to Earth, okay?"

Keahi nodded. "Of course. Kronos, I'm ready to go now."

"Okay, firecracker. Go get your bags." _:Gaia?:_

_:There is more. The Elders would not tell me anything, though. It's frustrating.:_

_:Yes, it is. Don't worry about her. She's going to San Francisco. The Charmed Ones can look out for her.:_

_:The Charmed Ones? I thought that one of them had been killed.:_

_:Yes. The eldest, Prue. However, there was a fourth sister, Paige. She got her powers right after Prue passed away. They will look after her.:_

_:That does make me feel better, thank you.:_

Keahi came back into the room. "I'm ready. I love you, Mother."

Gaia looked at her youngest. "I love you, too, sweetheart. Be safe and trust your instincts."

Keahi nodded as she took Kronos' hand. A few moments later, they were standing in San Francisco. "Thanks, Kronos. I'd better go find a place to live and a job."

An hour later, she was frustrated. She had not found a place to live, so she decided to try looking for a job. She was walking down the street when she spotted a club called P3. There was a help wanted sign out front. Deciding that it was worth a shot, she walked in. "Hello?"

"In the back!"

Puzzled, she walked towards the voice. "I saw the sign for the job outside. I'm here to apply."

"I'll be right out."

Keahi waited by the bar for a few minutes then a woman with long brown hair walked out of the back.

"Sorry, it's been a really crazy week. I'm Piper. I own the club."

Keahi smiled. "Hi, I'm Keahi. I'm new to town and need a place to work."

Piper looked at her. "Do you have any experience."

Keahi raised her eyebrows. "Experience with what? I don't know what the job is for."

Piper laughed. "Sorry. My mind has just shut off. I have a bartender position available."

Keahi nodded her head. "I have a little experience, nothing major though."

Piper looked at her. She got a good vibe from her. "Some is better than none. You'll work with Michael. He's the main bartender. He can get you up to speed in a couple of weeks. Just fill out this application."

Keahi looked at the form that Piper handed her. "Um. I don't know what to put for address. I just got to town today and I don't have a place to live, yet."

Piper thought for a moment. "There's a hostel, not to far from here. They will put you up for a couple of weeks while you find a place to live." She leaned over to the cash register. "Here you go. Here's some money to pay for it until you get paid."

Keahi smiled. "Thanks, but I have my own money. I'll go there right now."

Piper smiled. "Good. Be back here at seven and I'll have Michael start to teach you the ropes. Luckily, this is a Thursday, so it won't be too busy tonight."

Keahi smiled as waved to Piper as she left.

A couple of hours later, she was settled into her hostel room. She left early to make sure she was at the club on time.

She walked in and saw a few people around the bar. She walked up to the bar and rested by it. A man with dark hair walked up to her from behind the bar. "What can I get for you?"

Keahi smiled. "Nothing. I'm Keahi. I'm supposed to start tonight."

The man smiled. "Hi, Keahi. I'm Michael. Piper mentioned that she had hired you. Come on around the bar and I'll show you the ropes. What kind of drinks do you know how to make."

Keahi thought for a moment to the parties that her and her sisters had thrown for themselves. "Just the basics like a margarita."

Michael looked at her. "Okay. I can work for that." He reached under the counter and pulled out a book. "Here is a book of drink recipes. You might want to study that. It will be a big help."

Michael continued along that line until Keahi thought her head was going to explode with all the knowledge that he was giving her. She smiled to herself. He was very nice and kept introducing her to the regular people that always came in.

Piper came in about one am and told both her and Michael that they could leave once the club closed. Keahi declined, she told Piper that she would like to learn how to close. Piper smiled and agreed to let her stay.

"So," Piper started once the club had closed. "Where are you from?"

"A small town in Ohio. My mother told my sisters and me that we should leave home and see the world. She wanted us to be well rounded."

Piper smiled. "I have two sisters, too. How many sisters do you have?"

Keahi drew in a breath. "Four."

"Older or younger?"

"I'm the youngest. I'm twenty, Kim is twenty-two, Kai is twenty-four, Kansas is twenty-six and Kesia is twenty-eight."

"Wow. I'm the oldest. I used to be the middle child, but then Prue was killed."

Keahi frowned at that. "I'm so sorry. I don't know what I would do if one of my sisters was killed. It would be horrible."

Piper smiled. "It was. But I'm getting stronger every day."

Just as those words were out of her mouth six demons appeared. They were extremely tall, almost seven feet tall in height and built like linebackers. Their faces and hands were the deepest black with thin yellow stripes making different patterns on their faces. The lead demon growled as he saw the two witches staring at them.

Piper quickly snapped out of her amazement and extended out her arms to try to freeze them, but they were unaffected. She reacted quickly by blowing a one of them up. She turned to Keahi. "Run!"

Keahi just shook her head and extended her arms out. Fire appeared out of nowhere and enveloped another demon. She set to work with a blank expression on her face. She began to control the fire she was creating, trying to enclose the demons in it. The demons realized what she was doing and began to hurl energy balls at her, causing her to lose her concentration. Finally, she stopped trying to entrap them and began to extinguish the energy balls that were flying fast and furious at her.

Piper kept trying to blow some more of them up, but they were dodging her. "Paige!! Leo!!"

Keahi had been trying to keep track of the demons and realized that she was missing one. She turned around her and saw the missing demon preparing to attack Piper. "Piper! Look out!" she yelled just at the demon released the ball. She knew that Piper would not have time to react and threw herself at her to knock her down.

When Piper hit the floor, she uttered a small 'oof'. "What…" She stopped talking as the energy ball crashed into the bar. A piece of wood flew from the bar and hit Keahi on the head. She lost consciousness.

"That's it. I'm done playing," Piper muttered under her breath and she flung herself back up. Just as she stood up, she saw Leo orb in with Paige and Phoebe. "It's about time you got here!"

Both girls ignored her and began to fight the demons.

Phoebe levitated and managed to do a roundhouse kick at the demon on the far left. He flew into a wall and slumped to the ground. Behind her, she heard Paige call for an energy ball and turned just in time to see a demon explode that was just about to attack her. She turned and swept the ground with her leg, causing last demon to fall.

Piper saw her opportunity and quickly blew it up.

Once the dust settled, Leo walked over to Piper. "Honey, are you okay?"

Piper nodded. "Yeah. Crap. Check on Keahi. She's behind the bar. She got hit by some flying debris while saving my life."

Leo looked at her. "Who's Keahi?"

"New bartender who turned out to be a witch. She got one of the demons before she saved me."

Leo nodded. "Okay. Let's get her back to the manor."

With that, Paige grabbed Phoebe and they orbed out. Leo put a hand on Piper and on Keahi and orbed them to the manor.

* * *

**AN: **_Okay, y'all. I'm evil leaving it here. But truly, unless you really wanted this chapter to be over 10,000 words, this was the best place to stop! I promise that the next chapter will be up sometime next next week!_

_A Forgotten Fairy- Thank's so much for your review! I hope this meets with your expectations!!_

**AN:** _Okay, guys. See that little button below that says "Submit Review"? I would love it if you do! I do take requests and if you have a good idea, I'd love to incorporate it into the story!!! Update on 5/25/07 for grammatical errors and clarification on the battle scenes...Thanks's so much to Aphina for betaing this for me!!_


	3. Explanations, Maybe

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews._

Chapter 3.

**Explanations…Maybe**

When Piper, Leo and Keahi got back to the manor, Leo orbed Keahi to the couch. He looked at the Charmed Ones. "Do you want me to heal her?"

Piper shook her head, no. "Not unless it's life threatening. I don't like the fact that six demons attacked us. I didn't even know she was a witch. Can you check with the Elders and see if they have any info for us?"

Leo nodded and orbed away. Piper turned to Paige and Phoebe. "Thanks guys. What do you think?"

Paige looked at the woman lying on the couch. "I don't know. Demons don't general try to attack us like that anymore. Is it possible that they were after her? Except, usually, demons only go after young, untrained witches. And from what you said, she is definitely trained."

Phoebe nodded. "You said that she reacted immediately and got one of the demons. She obviously knows about her power and is comfortable using it. What did she do?"

Piper looked at them. "She enveloped one in fire. She also was trying to trap them in a cage of flames. That's an unusual power. There are not many people that control fire that well. From what I can tell, she is well trained."

"Let's check the Book of Shadows to see if we can find any matches on what type of demon this is," Paige said.

Piper nodded. "I think that's a good idea, but someone needs to stay down here with her in case she wakes up."

They discussed it for a moment and Phoebe volunteered to stay with her.

(Gaia's Fortress)

Gaia looked down at her scrying bowl. "Kronos. I don't like this. Can you please take the other girls to San Francisco to be with Keahi?"

Kronos turned to her. "Is that not interfering? You and I are bound by the same rules, Gaia. We can not interfere with whatever goes on down there. This is their test to see who would be best suited to be the next Earth-Mother."

Gaia whipped around, the ground shaking around her. "I don't care! They are my daughters. I should not have to see them attacked by demons!" With her anger, the earth tremors increased until Kronos was thrown to the floor.

"Gaia! Enough!" he yelled from the floor.

His exclamation broke through Gaia's anger and she looked down in shame. "I'm sorry. I lost my temper. I should know better than that. The Earth can not afford for me to lose my temper." Kronos stood back up. "I understand that you can not interfere with the girls. I'll just have to watch from above."

Kronos walked over to Gaia and put his arm around her shoulders. "I understand that it's hard. It's hard for me to watch them down there. They are all very strong women. They'll be okay."

Gaia nodded and turned back to her scrying bowl to continue to watch Keahi.

(The Manor)

Keahi felt sounds creeping back into her world. She noticed the sound of voices talking somewhere near her. She also felt the softness of a couch underneath her.

_What happened? The last thing I remember is the Cathract demons attacking. Oh my…Piper's a witch._ Her eyebrows drew together as she tried to piece together what happened. _Wait. Piper. Witch. P3. Piper's one of the Charmed Ones. Shit. How can I explain about my powers if I can't let her know that I am a daughter of Gaia?_

Keahi felt that she had done enough thinking and decided to sit up. She groaned as she opened her eyes which caught the attention of four people having a discussion.

Leo turned back to the girls. "Listen. I can't tell you what I know yet. There are some powerful forces at work here. I suggest that we go talk to her." With that, he turned and walked towards Keahi. "How are you feeling?"

Keahi looked up at the blonde man who walked over to her. "Like I got run over by a truck. Is Piper okay?"

Leo nodded. "She's fine. Thank you for saving her life."

Keahi looked embarrassed. "It was just instinct."

Leo looked down at her. She looked uncomfortable. "I'm a White Lighter."

Keahi nodded. "I know. I can see it in your aura."

Leo raised his eyebrows. "Okay. The Elders said that it was okay for you to tell your secret to Piper, Phoebe and Paige. I just wanted to let you know that."

Keahi looked at him. "Really? Are things really that bad?"

Leo smiled. "I'll explain after you tell them who you are."

Keahi nodded as the women walked up. "I guess you guys want an explanation." Piper nodded. "Okay. I'm not exactly sure where to start."

Paige looked at her. "How about from when you found out you were a witch."

Keahi smiled. "I've always known that I was a witch. My sister's are as well. Um. I am a Daughter of Gaia."

Piper and Paige looked confused. Phoebe, however, looked like a light had gone on over her head. She glanced at the other two sisters who had blank expressions on their faces. "Gaia. Mother Earth. The immortal who was responsible for the creation of sky, the Titians and the Greek Gods."

Keahi nodded. "Yes."

Phoebe looked at her. "I wasn't aware that she had any daughters."

Keahi drew a breath. "Things have changed. After the downfall of the Titians, Gaia decided to become somewhat mortal. The Gaia that exists now is not a Goddess; she is simply a very long lived, very powerful witch. The average lifespan of Gaia is four to five thousand years. Sometime before her life ends, she makes the choice to have children. She will always have five girls. Sometimes they are quintuplets; however this was not the case with us."

Paige interrupted at this point. "So you have four sisters?"

Keahi smiled. "Yes. We each represent one of the elements. Kesia is the Earth elemental. Kansas is Wind. Kai is Water and Kim is Metal. I, obviously, am Fire."

Piper looked stunned at this point. "Wow. So why are you here?"

"Well," Keahi began. "There can only be one Earth-Mother, so the daughters are sent down to Earth to gain experience. Then one of the daughters is chosen to inherit the 'throne'. The rest of the daughters live normal mortal lives on Earth after that."

Piper nodded her understanding. "So all of Gaia's daughters are on Earth now. Maybe that's why the demons attacked. But how did they know you were here?"

"They were Cathract demons. They have the special ability of being able to tell when a daughter of Gaia is on Earth. I just don't know why he attacked me. Now. Kesia arrived here four years ago. Why not attack her?"

Leo cleared his throat. "I believe that I can help you out with that. Piper asked me to go to the Elders and see if I could get any information. That's where I was told who you were. Your mother came to visit the Elders before you arrived. She said that you were having uneasy feelings about coming to Earth."

Keahi shuddered at the memory. "Yeah, I was. It was like I knew that something bad was going to happen when I got here."

Leo nodded. "It was the beginning of a premonition. Unfortunately, since the wards on your mother's fortress are so strong, the full effect was not felt." Leo turned to Phoebe. "Phoebe, you might want to help her with understanding the premonitions. I believe that she had not had any experience with it."

Phoebe nodded. "I'll do my best, but they affect everyone differently."

"Anyway, the Elders told me that there has been a massing of demonic activity the last four years. They were not sure what was happening until your mother came to visit them."

Keahi looked confused. "Okay. What are you trying to tell me?"

Leo drew in a deep breath. "You and your sisters are going to be under attack. The Source hopes to gain control of the Earth by eliminating all of Gaia's daughters and then defeating her by using your powers. They had to wait until you were all here to begin their plan."

"What!" Keahi and the Charmed Ones yelled.

Piper was the first to begin to articulate her thoughts. "So you mean that the Source wants to gain the power of the Earth."

Keahi was the second to get her wits about her. "Is he insane? No demon can control the power of the Earth. It's impossible. It would kill him. The beauty of the Earth and Time is that they are impartial. They don't side with either good or evil."

Paige looked at Keahi. "Time? You act like time is a living thing."

Keahi laughed. "He is. You haven't heard the stories of Father Time?"

"I thought they were just stories."

"They're not. He's real. He goes by the name Kronos. He's the one that transported me here. I think he is kind of a sounding board for Mother and Mother does the same for him."

"Really. Well, now that I feel…"

Keahi smiled. "You don't have to feel that way, Paige. It's a different world." She turned to Leo. "If they are attacking us, then I believe that it would be the best thing to bring my sisters here."

Leo nodded. "I can orb you to them, although it would be best if Paige came along since there are so many of you."

Keahi nodded. "I understand, although I might be able to help prepare them for us. We are all linked telepathically. I need a pentagram and candles."

Quickly they moved to the attic and set up the magic barriers and protections. Keahi stood in the center of all the candles and closed her eyes.

_:Kesia? Can you here me?:_

_:Keahi! Are you alright? I felt the demon attack.:_

_:I'm fine. I'm going to be orbing to you and the rest of our sisters with a White Lighter. I'll explain everything when we are all together. I'm going to contact everyone else and then we will be there. No more than an hour.:_

_:Okay. I'll be ready. Stay safe, sister-mine.:_

Keahi repeated the process with her other sisters and then came out of her trance. "Sorry. I couldn't use the phone because they never would have believed that I was alright." She turned to Leo. "Everyone will be ready in an hour. We can leave then."

Leo shook his head. "That's fine with me."

Piper looked at Paige and Phoebe. "Well, come on. We only have an hour to make sure that everything is ready for them. Come on people! Move!"

Keahi laughed. "She reminds me a little of Kesia. All dictator like. Is it like because she is the oldest?"

Leo thought for a second. "Maybe, but she was like that a little bit before Prue died. Prue was the oldest."

"I really am sorry to hear that she died. The Light took a hit at that. I'm glad that Paige came into her powers."

Keahi and Leo continued to talk until it was time to leave to pick up the other sisters. Within an hour of the time they left, they were back with all of the sisters.

After the introductions were made, Keahi began to explain the circumstances. Once complete, the floor was open for discussion.

Piper began. "I don't understand something. Since Gaia is impartial, aren't you guys impartial, too?"

Kesia broke in. "No. While we have the powers from the Earth, we do not have the power _of_ the Earth. We are free to choose our sides. Amazingly enough, no daughter of Gaia has ever chosen the Dark side."

Kai nodded. "Exactly. That's why the Source wants to eliminate us. If he eliminates us, then he has a basis to fight Mother. The question is…How do we defeat him?"

"I may be able to help with that."

All nine people turned to look in the direction of the voice.

Keahi smiled. "Kronos! What are you doing here?"

Kronos smiled. "I came down at the bequest of your mother. It is too dangerous for her to come down, so she wants me to bring all of you back to her. She wants to give you some information."

The Charmed Ones and Leo decided to have a sidebar at this time.

Piper looked at Leo. "Do we do this?"

Leo looked at her. "You're afraid of this being a trap."

Piper nodded. "It's understandable."

"I know. That really is Kronos, Father Time. I believe that it is safe."

Piper looked at Phoebe and Paige. "What do you think?"

Phoebe said, "It's worth it. To put an end to the Source, I would go to hell and back."

Paige nodded her agreement. "I'm in."

Piper looked at them and then turned to the remaining people. "Okay. We're willing to go."

Keahi smiled. "I knew that you would make that choice. Kronos?"

Kronos held out his hands. "Everyone link hands and I'll transport you there."

They linked hands and soon were standing in Gaia's Fortress.

* * *

**AN:**_ Okay guys! Here's the next chapter!!! I'm glad that everyone likes it so far. My muse (Lexi) has decided to take this a different direction than what I had originally planned. So I have no clue what's going to happen!!_

_eacstl- I'm glad that you like this so far! Thanks for the review. I was not going to bring the sisters to San Francisco so early, but it seemed right!_

_A Forgotten Fairy- Thanks!! I had originally planned that the sisters were going to be killed, but my muse has decided otherwise! I'm glad that you're still reading!!_

_Okay. Please, please, please review!!! It makes me write faster!!!_

_updated on 6/6/07 for grammatical errors._


	4. Gaia's Story

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews._

Chapter 4.

**Gaia's Story**

The Charmed Ones looked around at the Fortress. "Wow," Paige said. "This is nice." She craned her head up and looked up at the vaulted, white marble ceiling. Both Piper and Phoebe murmured their agreement.

The Daughters all breathed a sigh of relief at the sense of home that overcame them. Keahi was the first one to sigh out loud. "This is good. I never knew that I could miss home so much."

The other girls agreed with her, but Kesia did not let the feeling linger. "Mother? Where are you?"

Kronos looked around. "I guess she is in her work room. I take it you can find that?"

Kesia nodded. "Of course. Follow me." She led the group down a couple of hallways that featured some sort of earth element in them. Soon they were standing in front of a set of double doors that had carvings of each element on them. She paused and then knocked on the door.

"_Enter."_

Kesia threw open the doors and everyone walked in the room.

Piper looked at the tall, elegant woman standing in front of them. She had deep auburn hair that fell to her waist in waves. She was wearing a long white gown that was reminiscent of a Grecian goddess gown. It was belted at the waist with a silver belt that dipped low. Piper felt the power radiating off of the woman. It was like basking in the sun. She stopped in awe and felt the urge to bow, which she did.

Gaia smiled at the oldest Charmed One. "There is no need to bow to me, Piper. I am not a Goddess. I'm just a long lived witch."

Piper nodded. "Of course. I'm sorry."

Gaia laughed a musical laugh. "No worried, dear. I completely understand. That's how I felt about Kronos when I first met him. Well, that and the thought that he is completely gorgeous."

The Charmed Ones laughed at that, feeling the tension in the room dissipate. Both Paige and Phoebe were feeling much more at ease after the little joke. They both admitted to themselves that Kronos was extremely good looking.

Gaia turned and looked at both Kronos and Leo. "I do apologize to you. I need to talk to all of the women. Unfortunately, what I need to say can only be passed on to them. No men allowed."

Leo looked at Piper. She nodded to him and he turned to Kronos. "So, where do we wait?"

Kronos raised an eyebrow to Gaia. She in turned looked at them. "Kronos? Why don't you take him to the gardens?" Kronos looked at her and nodded. Silently, he led Leo out of the room.

Gaia turned to the remaining women. "I'm guessing that you have lots of questions about why the Source would try this tactic." At the other women's nods, she turned and raised her hand to a wall. Quickly, a door appeared.

The Daughters looked shocked and the Charmed Ones just looked on. Keahi was the first to find her voice. "Mother? Where does that door lead?"

Gaia looked at her daughter. "This is something that I was not supposed to show you until one of you was picked as my replacement. However, with the things that are happening right now, I've deemed that it's appropriate to show you guys. _All_ of you guys. I think it might hold some answers."

Paige decided to voice her question and raised her hand.

"Yes, Paige?"

"What kind of answers?"

Gaia smiled. "It depends on the question. The more important question is, what question do you want to ask? Think about that carefully. It does not matter what question you are asking, somewhere in this room, you will get the answer."

Phoebe raised her hand. "Pardon me, but why are you helping us? I thought Gaia was meant to be impartial."

Gaia looked at Phoebe. "Excellent point. Yes, Gaia is supposed to be impartial, but the Source has crossed the line. As a result, I no longer have the choice to stay impartial. This is a rule that he probably does not know about. Now, before we enter the room, everyone was must be dressed properly." Gaia waived her hands and all of the women's clothes were changed to match her own. "Now let's enter the Room of Knowledge." She led the women towards the room and quickly they entered.

Everyone looked around at the plain white walls. Gaia caught their looks of confusion. "Don't worry about it. This room harbors all of the knowledge of the Earth. First, let's take you back to the beginning."

All of the women, except Gaia, gasped as the room suddenly changed. They were transported back to a small, dimly lit room, where a woman was standing. They heard a door knock and turned to watch the scene unfold.

_The woman turned towards the door. "Come in."_

_Kronos walked into the room. "Hello, Mother. Why did you summon me here?"_

_The woman sighed. "I summoned you here to inform you of my decision." She turned from him. "I'm tired, Son. I can't take anything else after this mess with Zeus and the Greek Gods. I've decided to give up my immortality."_

_Kronos turned towards her. "What do you mean, Mother? How can you give up your immortality?"_

_The woman smiled. "I'm tired, Kronos. I just can't take it anymore."_

"_Then who will become the Earth Goddess?"_

"_That's why I wanted you here. I plan on having children. Five daughters. I can control the sex of the baby. These will be born, not of other Gods, but of witches on Earth. They will be spelled, so that one of them will be chosen at random to become the next Earth-Mother. She will take on my name and Gaia will continue to live. Her lifespan will be approximately five thousand years. I need you here to keep an eye on this while I go down to Earth."_

_Kronos looked at Gaia. "Okay. I understand. I hope you realize that I do not intend to follow in your footsteps."_

_Gaia smiled. "I understand. Thank you, Son."_

The scenery in the vision morphed into another scene, this one showed the same Gaia, with five young women around her. "Approximately twenty years have passed," said Gaia.

_Gaia had lines around her eyes and some gray in her hair. She addressed the five women in front of her. "Adana, Arden, Anemone, Aqua and A'Neelam. You are to go down to Earth and learn all you can. It is an important lesson for you to learn if you choose to become the Earth-Mother. You will be down there for a minimum of five years. At the end of those five years, you will return to this fortress and the choice will be made on who is the best to succeed me."_

_The five women nodded and quickly decided on where they would go on Earth. One of the daughters, Aqua, turned to look at her mother. "Mother? Will we see you again?"_

_Gaia smiled. "Yes, dear. You will see me one more time when the choice is made. At that point, I will cancel the spell that ensures long life, so the remaining daughters will live normal mortal lives on Earth." She turned and looked at the women again. "Be safe, my daughters."_

The astounded women looked at Gaia, who smiled at them. "Aqua was my name before I was Gaia. This will be my story. I hope you find it useful."

She waived her arms again and the eight women were transported back to Ancient Egypt.

_Aqua looked around the streets. She knew that with her power, she would be highly revered in Egypt. She made her way to a temple of Anuket, the goddess of water. There, she spoke with some priestess' who gave her the name of a small village who was in dire need of some help._

_She quickly made her way to Aswan, a village by the Second Cataract. They were having many problems with trying to travel due to the many rapids in the area. That was where she met with the chief priestess, Nakia._

"_Well met, Nakia. I am Aqua. I am gifted with the power of water. I was told in Alexandria that this village was in dire need of help. What can I do?"_

_Nakia made a bow of greeting. "Indeed. Your help is greatly needed here. Those rapids in the Nile make travel and fishing difficult here."_

_Aqua smiled. "I can definitely help you out."_

_The scene faded a little and all the women heard Gaia's voice._ This was my life for five years. I helped to make life easier for these people. Then things changed.

_The scene reappeared in front of them. This time they saw Aqua standing with a man._

_Aqua looked at the man. "Nen? You truly want to spend the rest of your life with me? Why?"_

"_Aqua, I feel like you complete me. Please do me this honor."_

_A shadow crossed her face. "Nen. I love you. But there are some things about me you don't know. Please, come to my hut tonight and I'll come clean with you."_

_Aqua fretted for the rest of the day. She knew that she had to tell him the truth about her parentage. She prepared the meal and had everything ready a few minutes before Nen arrived. Once dinner was over, she told him everything._

_Nen looked at her after the she told him, an unusual glint in his eye. "You have so much power at your disposal. Power that could be mine. I know that we are meant to be together."_

_Aqua took a step back at his words. "What do you mean?"_

_Nen looked at her. "When you become the Earth-Mother. Both of our powers will be multiplied."_

"_Pardon me. Both of our powers? The Earth only has one keeper. The only one who can control the power of the Earth, is the Earth-Mother. We will not share powers. If and I mean if I am chosen to be the one who succeeds Mother, I will no longer be part of the Earth. There would be no we."_

_Nen's face became an ugly mask of rage. "What do you mean? We are meant to be together!"_

_Aqua took another step back, feeling the waves of evil rolling off of him. "No. We are not. Just the fact that you believe what you believe, makes my choice easier. I want you out of my life. To answer your question, no. I will not spend the rest of my life with you. Leave this place. Now."_

_Nen felt the power rolling off of her and decided to leave. "This isn't over. I will not rest until your power is mine." He stalked out of the building, letting the door slam behind him._

_Aqua sat down, shaking in her rage. She had finally calmed down when she noticed someone else in the room with her and looked up. "Kronos."_

_Kronos nodded. "It's time for the choice to be made. Come with me."_

_Aqua and Kronos transported back to the fortress. Once there, Kronos bowed to all of the women and left. Gaia turned to her daughters. "It is time for the Choice. Please come and stand around the pentagram."_

_The daughters stood on their points, dressed in white robes. Gaia began to speak in Latin._ "EGO dico super vox of orbis terrarum. Terra, ventus, unda, incendia, quod metal. Is est vicis pro Choice. Terra est promptus parumper transitus. Cui should is veneratio peto?"

_A bright light entered the room and a wind began to circle the daughters. The wind circled each daughter once and moved on. When the wind was done, Gaia began to chant again._ "Quinque elementum exertus. Quod unus mos gero pallium de vox?"

_The wind began to circle again. It finally settled around Aqua bringing with it the purest light. Gaia smiled. "Aqua, you've been chosen to be my successor."_

_Aqua smiled and the scene faded out._

The girls blinked as the white walls became clear again. They shook their heads, trying to bring themselves back to the present.

Gaia waited patiently for them to process everything that they had seen. "That was how I became Gaia."

Keahi looked at her mother, a new respect in her eyes. "Mother. You had to endure so much. What ever happened to Nen?"

Gaia nodded. "He revealed his powers not to long after I was chosen. He was a demon in disguise. It took him four thousand years to gain enough power to satisfy him. He has been the Source of all Darkness for the past thousand years."

Piper gasped. "That's how the Source came to be?"

Gaia smiled. "That's the short version. He never got the power that he truly wanted, however. That's why he created the Cathract demons. They have the specific purpose of sensing Daughters of Gaia when they are on Earth. He used them to destroy my sisters. Now he intends to use them to destroy my Daughters."

Piper looked like she was thinking. "So basically, he is just power hungry. It just makes me want to destroy him even more."

Gaia nodded. "With that knowledge imparted, it is time for you to return to Earth." She turned to face the daughters. "Girls? I'd like a moment alone with the Charmed Ones, please."

The girls nodded and filed out of the room. Gaia turned to the Charmed One. "There is some knowledge that I would like you to know. If Nen succeeds in killing all of my daughters, the power of Earth will be shattered. I have already begun the spell to transfer my power. That happened when Kesia was sent to Earth. I have a small chance of being able to choose a successor that is not of my blood, but it is not a guaranteed thing."

Piper furrowed her brow. "So basically if he kills all of the Daughters, he kills you. He then tries to gain control over the power of the Earth."

Gaia nodded. "I need to ask you to protect them. They are strongest when fighting together. When they fight together, they almost control all of the power that I have."

Phoebe looked at her. "We will protect them. We will protect them and stop the insanity."

"Thank you. That's all I can ask for."

The girls nodded as the doors opened. Piper took the lead. "We'd better get going then. We will find a way to stop him. Thank you."

They left the workroom and joined up with the others. Once they were all together, Leo and Kronos transported them back to the manor.

* * *

_Latin Translation:_

_I call upon the powers of the Earth. Earth, wind, water, fire and metal. It is time for the Choice. Earth is ready for a transition. To whom should this honor go to?_

_The five elements have been tested. Which one will wear the mantel of power?_

* * *

**AN: **_There goes the fourth chapter. It doesn't seem to be going the way I had originally planned, but I am happy with the chapter. Thanks go out to everyone who is taking the time to read and a very special thanks to those who review!!!_

_eacstl-Thanks!! I've decided to just let my muse have control. This is so not what was originally in my head, but I do think that it's turning out even better!! Thanks so much for your reviews!!_

_A Forgotten Fairy- I'm so glad that you always review!! Thanks so much for your support! I should have the next chapter up by next weekend._

_Updated 6/14/07 to correct grammer and formatting. Many thanks to Aphina for betaing this for me!!!_

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	5. Plans

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews. I am so very sorry that this took so long to get up, but Real Life intruded! Normally I write 2 chapters a week (1 for this story and 1 for my CSI: NY fic) but over the last 2 weeks, I've only had enough time to write 1 chapter! Sheesh. Hopefully, I can get back to my normal writing schedule!!_

Chapter 5.

**Plans**

When the group got back to the manor, they decided to go into the living room to discuss their options.

"So…" Piper said.

Keahi looked at her. "I'm sorry. If I hadn't come here, then I would not have brought all of you into this madness."

Phoebe sensed her distress and smiled a bit. "Don't worry about it. We're used to the Source trying to destroy us. He's made it his life's work."

Keahi managed to smile a little bit. "That's true. He does seem to really hate you guys." She turned and looked at the entire group. "Let's figure out how to kill him."

The girls nodded and then they made their way to the attic to consult the Book of Shadows.

A few hours later, they were still at a loss in trying to find a way to destroy the Source. Kesia was especially impatient. "Come on! We are eight of the most powerful witches in the world. How can we not find a way to destroy this SOB?"

Piper smiled. "It's not that easy. He has a lot of power to throw at us and we have no idea what to expect."

Kansas snorted. "You got that right. But I think we are missing something. He may have a lot of power, but between all of us…We have so much more. My sisters and I control of the elements. Piper, you have the ability to both blow things up and stop time. Phoebe, you have the wonderful power of premonitions and Paige? You have telekinesis. I really think that we are just over thinking this."

Both Paige and Kim nodded at that. Paige looked down at her watch. "Look. It's getting late. Why don't we sleep on it and look at it with fresh eyes in the morning."

All of the women looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Keahi looked at her sister. "Where are we all going to sleep? I don't think it safe for us to be apart. We're stronger together."

Phoebe and Piper looked at each other. There was a moment of silent communication before Piper nodded. Phoebe looked at the five Daughters. "We have the room here for you to stay."

Kim looked at them. "Are you sure? We don't want to impose."

Paige smiled. "You're not imposing."

The Daughters looked at each other and then agreed. Piper walked down the stairs and went to the linen closet. She called up over her shoulder, "We have a spare bedroom. Three of you guys can bunk with one of us and then the other two can have the spare room."

Quickly, they made their sleeping arrangements. Kesia and Piper were going to share a room, Kim and Paige, Keahi and Phoebe, and Kansas and Kai.

Keahi grabbed her bag and followed Phoebe to her room. She looked around. "I like this. It seems to fit you."

Phoebe smiled. "Yeah. I've lived here for the majority of my life. There was that one time when I moved out. That was before we got our powers, though."

Keahi nodded in understanding. "I understand. I'm the youngest, so I was the last to leave. I almost didn't want to."

Phoebe laughed. "That's the difference between us. I couldn't wait to leave and left as soon as I could."

Keahi smiled. "It's not that. It's just…Before Kronos came to pick me up; I started to get really bad feelings about what would happen when I got to the mortal realm. It seems that my fears were not for nothing."

Phoebe looked at the red head. "I understand. From what I understand, it's possible that you were having a premonition, but with the shields around your mother's fortress were interfering with them."

"I guess that could happen. How do you control your premonitions?"

Phoebe sighed. "Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. When I do control them, I just concentrate really hard and it comes to me."

"I guess I'll have to work on it. It's just like trying to control fire." Keahi began to laugh. "It was the whole joke with the family, that you couldn't have anything flammable around me for a six month period. I couldn't control my power and I kept setting random things on fire."

"That sounds bad."

"The worst part was the time when Kai managed to scare me. I almost burned down the gardens. Luckily, since she controls water, she was able to put the fire out. After that, everyone would make sure to announce that they were coming a good deal in advance."

Phoebe began to laugh. "That brings me to a question. What do your names mean?"

"That's easy. Each of us was named after the element to control. Kesia, earth. Kai, water. Kansas, wind. Kim, metal. Me, fire."

Phoebe nodded as she yawned. "Cool. It's getting late. We'd better go to bed."

Keahi agreed and soon both girls were fast asleep.

The next day, all of the women were up early. Kansas helped Piper cook breakfast while the rest of the women went over the Book of Shadows again.

Kesia was reading some of the spells when she suddenly let out a breath in exasperation. "I don't think that we are going to find what we are looking for in this. As good as these spells are they are not going to come even close to hurting the Source. These are all meant for lower level demons."

Paige nodded. "I see what you're getting at. Let's think about what Gaia showed up. The Source was a demon called Nen. If I remember my Egyptian mythology right; that means that he controlled water. Which would have been why he was so attracted to Aqua. He sensed her power and wanted to control her power."

Kai smiled. "I can see that. So my power would be useless against him. He would know exactly how to counter anything that I can throw at him."

Phoebe nodded. "I agree. But what if we were able to combine our powers, somehow. That would make what we do more unpredictable."

Keahi nodded. "Exactly! He's not going to be expecting us to know that he knows about us. He's expecting to catch us in surprise. I really think that trying to combine our powers is a good idea."

Keahi was interrupted by Piper and Kansas calling to them to breakfast. They decided to bring the two cooks up to speed as they ate. Piper began to get hopeful as she listened to the plan. "I think that it's a good idea. The only question is...whose powers are best combined."

The table became silent as they all pondered that question. Kansas looked at everyone. "Okay. I know for a fact that water and fire cancel each other out, so we can't pair up Keahi and Kai. So we can't pair them up. I think that Kesia's control of the earth and Paige's telekinesis would complement each other."

Kesia and Paige looked at each other. "I think you're right, Kan," Kesia said. "Phoebe and Piper would also make a good team."

Keahi cleared her throat. "I think that Kansas's and my fire would make a volatile combination. That would leave water and metal, Kai and Kim."

Kai nodded. "We've worked together before. I think that it would be the best distribution of power."

Keahi nodded. "Good. Now we just need to train together. We need to get a sense of how each other's powers work. I say we work on that this afternoon and then we can look through the book again tonight. Maybe something will come to mind them.

There was a unanimous decision and quickly to group split into four different teams to began training.

* * *

**AN:** _Again. I do really apologize that this took so long for me to write. Between school and my workload more than doubling, I've had precious time to write, much less try to write two stories. I promised myself that before I updated my other story, I would update this one!_

_lac t-Yeah! A new reviewer! I'm glad that you liked the ending. I hope this is a good place to stop, too. I wasn't happy where I had intially stopped it, so I went back after I had stopped and added the last part. I do agree...There are so many possibilities for where this story is going to go. Thanks!!_

_bea0001- Another new reviewer! I feel so loved right now. I'm glad you are enjoying it so far. I agree. A lot of the Charmes stories I've read really focus on Wyatt and Chris. I like them, but my favorite part of the series was the early years. I also think that some of the difference comes from the fact that I normally write crime drama. This is out of the norm for me! I hope you like this chapter._

_eacstl- Thanks! I'm glad you still like it!_

_Note to A Forgotten Fairy--I missed your review for this chapter! I hope everything is okay!!_

_Updated 6/14.07 to correct some grammer and formatting issues. Many thanks to Aphina for betaing this for me!_


	6. Training

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews. Yeah! I'm back on a semi-regular writing schedule!!_

Chapter 6.

**Training**

* * *

After the meeting, each pair agreed to split up to train and learn more about their powers. Paige and Kesia went out into the backyard.

Paige led them out and turned to Kesia when she got to a corner of the yard. "So, what element do you control?"

Kesia smiled. "I control the earth. You have telekinesis, right?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah. It's mixed in with my White Lighter powers, though. It's taken a bit to get used to."

Kesia laughed. "I completely understand. I'm the oldest, so I was the first one to get my powers. It freaked me out the first time I made a tremor. It's crazy."

Paige smiled. "That just weird. You're the oldest, I'm the youngest. So how do we combine our powers?"

Kesia thought for a moment. "If I were to move a piece of earth, say a boulder, could you throw it at something?"

Paige thought for a moment. "Probably. Let's see if we can try it with some rocks."

Kesia nodded and Paige watched a good sized rock fly into the air. It hovered and Paige thought for a moment. "ROCK!" she called out. The rock flew through the air towards Kesia.

Kesia laughed as she dodged the flying missile. "Good. I wonder if weight will be any factor. I can move great areas of the earth. I can break it into pieces. I bet that we could combine our powers to quickly build a wall. I know I can do it by myself, but it takes time."

"Hmm. That sounds like a good idea. Can we practice that here?"

"No. It would be too destructive to the ground." She thought for a moment. "You said that you have White Lighter powers. Can you orb us to an isolated location?"

"Sure. Grab my hand." They held hands and soon were they were standing on an isolated mountain. "Okay. Try to move a big boulder and I'll see if I can move it."

Kesia nodded and the ground began to shake. Soon a large boulder was hovering in the air. "Try to move it."

"BOULDER!" The boulder moved a couple of inches and stopped. Paige had a defeated look on her face. "It's too heavy. I can't move it."

"Don't say can't. Can't is not a word that is allowed. If you think that you can't do it, then you won't be able to. Your power lies in you. You can do this. You just need to believe."

Paige looked at Kesia in wonder. "Wow. Really?"

Kesia smiled. "Of course. That's what Mother used to tell us when we were learning control."

Paige nodded. "Okay. Let's try this again."

* * *

Phoebe and Piper went to the attic to try to look and see if they could write some more spells. Since they had worked together their entire time as witches, that came naturally to them.

"So," Piper began. "What do you think about the Daughters?"

Phoebe looked at her. "I sense a great deal of peace from them. They are the most controlled people that I have ever come upon. But I guess if you are expected to inherit the power of the earth, then you must be controlled."

Piper tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I guess so. It's just strange to meet them. I mean, I never considered that Gaia was real."

Phoebe looked at her. "I know what you mean. What can we do to try to destroy the Source?"

Piper thought for a moment. "We could always try to increase our powers. But I'm not sure if we could do that. I know that we will be stronger together. It just makes sense to try to combine our powers. Can you imagine what it must feel like to control the power of the earth?"

Phoebe looked at Piper. "I don't know. It would be a rush. But I don't know if we could handle the power. The Daughters are very powerful, but they've been training their entire lives. This is their destiny."

Just then Leo orbed in. "Hey, guys. What are you working on?"

Piper smiled at him. "Oh, you know. The usual. Trying to come up with a spell to destroy the Source."

Leo looked surprised. "Wow. You guys really jumped into this. Where's everyone else?"

Phoebe spoke up at that question. "We decided at breakfast this morning to work in pairs. By pairing up our powers we hopefully can surprise the Source by doing different things."

Leo nodded. "That's a good plan. So I take it that you two are working together?"

Piper nodded. "Yep. Paige is working with Kesia, since she controls land. Kai and Kim are working together and so are Keahi and Kansas. It seemed like the best distribution of our powers."

Phoebe nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Do you have any news for us?"

Leo shrugged. "Not really. It's stuff that we pretty much know. The Source wants to kill all of the Daughters so he can steal Gaia's power. So he is amassing an army of demons to confront you."

Piper wrinkled her nose. "Well. Isn't that just great. We have to find a way to get some sort of advantage over him." She looked at Phoebe, who was staring off into space. "Pheebs? Hey! Phoebe! Ya listening to me?"

Phoebe jumped. "Sorry. Premonition. We need to find a way for us to choose where we confront him at. If not, a lot of people are going to die." Phoebe shook her head to try to clear the images out of her mind. "Soon. From what I was able to see in the vision, we have a week at most."

"Well then, let's hop to it. Let's see if we can come up with a spell to knock the crap out of him!"

With the extra pressure and warning, the two witches began to try to come up with a spell.

* * *

Kai and Kim decided to go to the beach to try to work on using their powers in concert. As they walked, they decided to try to catch up since it had been a while since they had seen each other. Kai looked at Kim. "So, did the lead singer ever ask you out?"

Kim smiled. "Yeah. We've been a couple ever since. What about you? Have you found anyone?"

Kai's eyes lit up. "Oh, yeah. His name is Ben. He surfs and seems to really love water. We're getting serious. We're talking about moving in together."

Kim raised her eyebrows. "Wow. Does he know?"

"About whom I really am?" At Kim's nod, she continued. "Not yet. If we move in together, I'm going to have to tell him. I'm a little nervous about having that conversation."

"I understand. I'm not sure how I'm going to approach that if Darren and I get that serious. Oh, look! I see the water."

Kai smiled. "Good. How are we going to combine our powers?"

"I honestly have no clue. Mother didn't teach us to work in concert. She taught us how to defend against each other's powers. What if I brought metals to me and you could put some water power behind it?"

Kai shrugged. "I don't know. What if we used your power to disguise mine? If Nen can't see what I'm throwing at him, then he can't counter it."

Kim nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. Here, let me put this trashcan lid over there and you hide a ball of water behind it."

Kai nodded her agreement and together they began to work to try to disguise Kai's power.

* * *

Keahi and Kansas decided that it would be best if they practiced combining their powers far away from anything flammable. So they drove to a deserted spot on the beach in the car that Phoebe had loaned them.

Keahi was quiet during the drive. Kansas looked at her youngest sister, worried about how the stress of the last day and a half would affect her. "Keahi? You okay?"

Keahi turned to her sister. "I'm fine. This is just not what I had expected. I wanted to have a semi-normal life. Get a job, make friends, find a guy. But here I am, fighting to save the world from a five thousand year old demon who wants to kill Mother. The unfairness of it all is amazing."

Kansas smiled. "I know. It sucks. The rest of us got a chance to spread our wings, but you were thrust into madness." She turned and looked at Keahi while they were stopped at a light. "On the bright side, you are handling the pressure very well. I'm very proud of you."

Keahi smiled. "Thanks. You don't know what that means. It's been almost like I know what I need to do, but I don't have the experience to handle it. I'm just so glad that the Charmed Ones are here. I don't know what we would do without them."

Kansas laughed. "We'd do alright. You just have to believe. Mother trained us the best she could. Experience is the best teacher."

Keahi nodded as they pulled up to the deserted cove. "I think I have an idea of how to use our powers together."

Kansas raised her eyebrows. "Really?"

"Yeah. You can use the wind to create a tornado, right?" Kansas nodded. "What if I create fire and you use your power to make it a fire tornado? Wind fuels fire, so that would make it deadly."

Kansas smiled. "That's a good idea. I can control where it goes and you can control how hot it is. How hot can you actually make fire?"

Keahi shrugged. "I have no idea. I know that I've made it hot enough to cause some things to spontaneously combust. But I just don't know what my limit is."

"I wonder if we can trap Nen with that."

"I don't think so. His main talent was with water. He should know how to counteract my fire pretty easily."

"You're right. But maybe we can take out the rest of the demons. Hopefully everyone else can come up with something to take him out." Kansas looked out over the water. "We'd better get to practicing."

(Later that night at the Manor)

Everyone had just finished eating, when four demons shimmered in. They were in the living room, out of eyesight. They strained their ears to see if they could pick up on the plans that the group was making, but the conversation they were having just focused on getting to know each other.

They looked at each other. The Source had ordered them to only observe, not to be seen. They heard footsteps and quickly shimmered out of sight.

Piper and Keahi were walking out of the dining room. Keahi looked at Piper. "You mean demons can come in here? That's just not right. Don't you guys know how to shield the house from demons?"

Piper looked at her. "Is that possible?"

"Totally. That's what Mother does. Her fortress is shielded so that no one can get in without her permission. Obviously, we don't need to do that here, but we can make it so that demons can't come in."

"Really. That would be so great. It would be nice to have a safe place to come back to. Somewhere where we can just be ourselves."

"We can do it tomorrow." They moved out of the room and the demons shimmered back into view.

They all looked at each other and decided to leave to give the Source the new information that they had discovered.

* * *

**AN: **_Okay. I know I'm evil ending it there, but I honestly think that was the best place to end. I have to figure out how Nen is going to react to the whole shielding thing first... :D_

_bea0001 - Thanks! I like the thought of them combining powers somehow. It makes it more unpredictable!_

_eacstl - Thank you so much! I'm glad that you are liking the story!! I'm loving writing it since I normally write crime drama. It's nice to stretch my creative wings. :D_

_updated 6/25/07 for grammatical errors_


	7. Change of Plans

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews. _

Chapter 7.

**Change of Plans**

The four demons walked trepidatiously towards the Source. They were not looking forward to having to tell him about the development with the witches.

The lead demon, Maliki, stopped before him and went down on one knee to bow. "My Lord. We come bearing interesting news from the manor."

The Source looked at them. "Proceed."

Maliki nodded. "Just as you ordered, we made our way into the Manor undetected. There we observed the witches. They were not discussing any plans like we had hoped. They were…getting to know each other," he said with a sneer. "However, we did overhear one interesting conversation. One of the Daughters stated that they could put up shields around the Manor, to block demons from entering."

The Sources looked at him, his anger growing. "What do you mean by shields?"

Maliki looked at him, a little fear in his eyes. He knew that the Source was likely to fly off the handle at the news. "Shields like those on Gaia's fortress. The Daughter said that she knew how to create them. She said that she would set them up tomorrow morning."

The Source processed this information and growled in his frustration. "I want those witches dead."

One of the other demons who been at the Manor looked at the Source. "My Lord. Have we not invested enough time and energy into these witches? No matter what we come up with, they always manage to defeat us. Why should this time be any different?"

The Source did not answer him with words. Instead he threw an energy ball at him and the demon disappeared in flames, screaming in agony. "Anyone else have any more suggestions?"

The remaining demons in the room stayed silent, fearful that the Source would take his anger out on them.

The Source nodded. "Alright. Maliki, you said that this shield is not going up until tomorrow. Make your way back to the Charmed Ones and become my spy. Pass on any information in order for us to be able to defeat the Daughters and the Charmed Ones."

Maliki nodded his head once. "As you wish, My Lord." He walked backwards until he reached the doors and quickly exited the room.

The Source looked at the remaining demons. He glared at them as they refused to move. "Leave me."

There was a chorus of "Yes, My Lord" and the demons shimmered away.

Nen looked around the empty room, feeling his rage grow at the audacity that Gaia's Daughters were showing. He growled in his frustration and his mind began to make plans to destroy them and then destroy Gaia.

His mind thought back to the time that they met, in Egypt.

_Nen was walking through the village, looking to see if there were any innocent witches to corrupt on his path to chaos. So far, the town was quiet. Not much in the magical arena._

_His eyes were drawn to a woman who had just walked out of the temple. She was extremely beautiful, with long auburn hair. He looked at her intensely and then noticed the magical aura surrounding her. It was the strongest that he had seen. The aura had her wrapped in a cocoon, completely surrounding her._

_He felt his heart leap at the thought. S she was the strongest witch he had ever come across. He kept his face neutral, but in his mind he was smirking at his good fortune. Silently, he made his way across to her, his silver tongue already planning how he was going to deceive her._

_Five years later, he was still frustrated. He had managed to wrap her around his finger since she believed every lie he told her, but he could not corrupt her. He knew that he was going to have to take the next step and offer to marry her._

Nen's face grew serious as the thoughts became clearer to that day.

_Nen thought out his proposal carefully. He knew that she would not be able to say no. Then she said those words that he was longing to here. "I need to tell you something."_

_He knew that she was going to admit to being a witch and he was prepared to let her believe the same of him. Then she blindsided him with the knowledge that she was the daughter of a goddess. His inner mind shouted in triumph as he let part of his façade drop. But she refused him, and then disappeared._

_It was only after he had managed to create the Cathract demons that he learned of where she had disappeared to. When he discovered that she had become the Earth-Goddess, he rage grew uncontrollable and he killed her sisters._

"So," Nen said to the empty room. "You think that your daughters can best me, Aqua? You have no idea of what I can do. When I get done with them and you are begging for my mercy, I'll make you watch as I take over the power of the Earth and use it to destroy mankind."

He smiled in glee as a plan became clear to him. He then called in the necessary demons to make his it into a reality.

(The Manor)

Keahi awoke from her sleep in a feeling of panic, as she fought the fringes of the dream that still had her in its grasp. Gasping for breath, she felt a hand on her arm and reacted instinctively.

Phoebe sprang back from Keahi as flames surrounded her. "Whoa! Keahi. It's me. Phoebe."

Keahi heard Phoebe's voice and fought to clear her head. She blinked a couple of times then extinguished the flames surrounding her. "Sorry, Phoebe. I just had a nightmare."

Phoebe drew in a breath, trying to get her heart to calm down. "Okay. Want to talk about it?"

Keahi looked at her. "Yeah. I think it might have been a premonition. It had the same feeling to it that I was feeling before I left home."

Phoebe looked at her in concern. "Really? I've had that happen sometimes. What do you remember?"

Keahi sat there and began to think back to her dream. She tried to piece together the fragments of memories that were swirling in her head. She began to try to put the fragments into the proper order. As the picture became clear in her head, she let out a gasp in surprise.

Phoebe looked at her in concern. "What's wrong?"

Keahi looked at her. "I'll explain later. Right now, we need to go wake the others up." Keahi leapt out of the bed and ran out of the room.

Quickly, she woke her sister's through telepathy. _:Sisters. Quick! We need to get shields up around the Manor. Stronger shields that I had planned. They need to prevent demons from both getting in and out of the Manor. We have a spy.:_

The Charmed Ones looked on confusion as the Daughters quickly ran out of their rooms and made their way to the attic. They quickly formed a pentagram in the center of the room and began to chant in Latin.

Piper and Paige watched with Phoebe. Piper turned to Phoebe. "What's going on?"

Phoebe yawned. "Not sure. Keahi woke up in the middle of a premonition nightmare. She almost set me on fire. Then she tried to piece together what the premonition was about. After a couple of minutes, she ran out of the room and now we're here.

Piper looked at the women and noticed a shimmery glow begin to form around them. It looked like a soap bubble. "Huh. I've never seen that before. Wonder what that's about."

Suddenly, all three women jumped as the shimmer intensified. Then the bubble expanded to surround the house. When the Charmed Ones opened their eyes, the bubble was gone.

Piper tapped her foot impatiently. "Anyone care to explain what just happened here?"

The Daughters looked at Keahi. Kesia decided to voice her concern. "Yes. Keahi? Care to explain?"

Keahi nodded. "I had a premonition. I saw the Source, talking to demons. Telling one of them to come here and spy on us. I think that he is in the house with us right now. Basically what we did is put shields up on the Manor. Stronger shields that I had planned since I don't want the demon leaving. I think it would be good to have a hostage. Might work to our advantage."

Paige looked at her. "What do you mean by stronger shields?"

Keahi nodded. "Basically, I had intended to only keep demons out of the house. But what I did was basically cut this demon off from the Source. If they had set up any kind of communication system, he will be cut off from it. He's not able to leave, so basically, he's trapped."

Phoebe looked at her. "But he can still attack us."

Keahi just laughed. "Really? One demon against eight of the strongest witches on Earth? Why am I not scared? Seriously, he will not be able to attack us. Not when I get done with him at least. Give me another couple of minutes and I can set up a dampening field while we locate him. Once he's located, when can trap him in another shield."

The other women watched as she began to chant in Latin again. Suddenly, they noticed a bright blue light, similar to that of the shield, surrounded a seemingly empty part of the attic.

All of the witches turned towards this ball of energy, and then in a sudden burst of light, a demon became visible.

Keahi came out of her trance then. "Oh, look. The spy. What should we do with him, girls?" The rest of the woman contemplated their next move.

* * *

**AN:** _Updated 9/17/07 for spelling and grammatical errors._


	8. Hostages

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews_

Chapter 8.

**Hostages**

Piper looked at the demon encased in the shield. "We should interrogate him." She watched as the demon sneered at her and she raised her eyebrows. "Oh. You don't think that we can break you?"

Maliki looked at her. "No. There is no way some little witch can make me talk." Maliki had heard what Keahi said about the dampening shield and decided to try to see if he could break through. He tried to create an energy ball, but it just fizzled out as he concentrated.

Keahi saw what he was trying to do. "It won't work, you know. The dampening field that is up around you will not allow any magic to work."

Maliki just growled in response.

Kesia decided to begin the interrogation. "So, what were you doing trying to spy on us? Trying to get our plans? Is the Source so scared of us because he doesn't know what to expect? If so, good. He's going down for what he did to our mother."

Maliki did not respond to this, he just stood there glaring at the women.

Kesia looked at the other women and with a nod they filed silently out of the room, taking the Book of Shadows with them. "Well that was interesting. Keahi, I didn't know you could do all of that."

Keahi smiled and ducked her head. "Well, I did some reading after you guys came down to Earth. I found the spells in some books. I figured that I could put them to good use."

The other four Daughters looked at Keahi in astonishment, while the Charmed Ones looked on. "You mean you never tried those spells before?" asked Kai.

"Nope."

Paige looked at them. "Those were some pretty advance spells. The fact that you get them right the first time shows how much power that each of you has. Change of subject. We need to figure out where and when we are going to confront the Source."

Piper and Phoebe both nodded. "I, personally, want to confront him on our terms. If we chose the battlefield, then we have more power," Piper said.

Kansas nodded. "Exactly. But where is the best place to fight."

Kim answered her. "We need somewhere remote. Somewhere that the power would go unnoticed."

Phoebe looked at them. "What about the desert? That would definitely limit his water power."

Kai looked at her. "It might, but that means that it will also limit my power as well and I think that it may take all of us to destroy him."

Phoebe nodded. "Damn. I forgot about that."

Keahi decided to break in at that moment. "What about someplace like a national forest? I remember looking at maps of the terrain while I was trying to decide where I wanted live down here. The one thing that sticks out in my memory is that there are millions of acres that are so remote that it takes the forest rangers days to get to them. We could scope out a place before hand and set up wards to keep people out, so no innocents would be hurt."

Kesia looked at her younger sister. "Sister, that is a wonderful idea. Why don't Paige and I do that? She can Orb us there and I know I can set up the wards."

Piper nodded, beginning to feel hopeful that they would be successful in destroying the Source once and for all. "I think that is an excellent plan. Paige, you know where we keep the maps. Why don't you try scrying for a good location? The rest of us will stay here and try to work on creating a spell to destroy him."

All of the women agreed and quickly split up, with Paige and Kesia moving to the kitchen, so they would have room to spread out the maps.

The rest of the women stayed in the living room. Piper grabbed a pad of paper and a pen to try to write down their ideas for a spell. Once she had them in hand, she turned to the others. "Okay. Phoebe and I worked on this a little bit when you guys were out training. We know that the Book of Shadows was no help. Most of the spells in there are to destroy lower demons, not the ultimate demon. What do we know about the Source?"

Keahi drew a breath. "He was a water demon, but I have no idea how he became the Source. From what I remember about Mother's discussions on him, he now controls most elements."

Kim nodded. "I wish I could go back in time to the discussions that Mother had with us about good and evil when we were growing up. I know she was telling us important stuff, but it's all vague now."

Kai agreed with her. "I know. Do you think that Kronos would help us?"

Keahi shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. He is supposed to remain neutral in the fight. For him to come down to take us up to Mother must have been a huge concession. But there is only one way to find out." She looked up at the ceiling and took a deep breath. "Kronos!" she yelled. She waited patiently, but had no response from her uncle.

Kai looked at her. "I think it's time to bring the big guns out. We should say the spell that Mother taught us to summon him."

Kansas looked at her. "That's a good idea, but it requires all of us to say it. Is Kesia still here?"

Piper offered to go into the kitchen and see. She got up quickly and walked into her favorite room. She was relieved to see that Paige and Kesia were still there, debating heatedly the pros and cons of a particular forest.

"No," said Paige. "That's too close to the city. The wards would have to be very strong and then he would definitely know that something was up."

"But," Kesia interjected. "Since its close, it would take a lot less energy to get there."

Piper cleared her throat. "Sorry to interrupt, but Kesia, we need your help. We are trying to call Kronos, but he's not responding to just calling him. Kai suggested that you guys us the spell that Gaia taught you to summon him, but Kansas said that it will take all of you to do it."

Kesia looked at her, her face awash with puzzlement. "Why are you trying to call Kronos?"

Piper looked at her. "Keahi said something about a discussion on good and evil that Gaia used to have with you. Something about how what she told you would be important to defeating the Source."

Kesia nodded in her understanding. "Oh. I see. They want to bring Kronos down to see if they can go back to the past to see what Mother was telling them. Good idea. I remember some of it, but not all."

Piper nodded and began to walk back to the living room. Kesia and Paige followed her.

When she was in the living room, Kesia nodded to her sisters and they began to move about the living room. Kesia looked at Paige. "We need five white candles, and help in moving the furniture."

Paige nodded and summoned the candles while the rest of them moved the furniture out of the way. Once the furniture was done, she handed the candles to Kesia, who distributed them to her sisters.

Quickly, the Daughters formed a pentagram in the middle of the room, arranging themselves next to the candles. They looked at each other and began to chant. "We call upon the power of the Earth."

"Land," said Kesia.

"Wind," Kansas followed after her.

"Water," Kai spoke clearly.

"Metal," said Kim.

"Fire," called Keahi.

"When help from Father Time is most dire. Come to us as we summon thee. As we will it, so mote it be," they finished together.

The Charmed Ones stood back as a gust of wind invaded the room. Piper looked confused when Kronos did not appear. "Did it work?"

Kesia looked around. They had done this spell before and Kronos always appeared instantly. "It should have. I wonder if the Source has put up a blocking spell around the..." She was cut off by the sudden appearance of Kronos, who did not look pleased.

"You called, Daughters of Gaia?"

Keahi, who was the most emotional of the sisters, reacted to the displeased tone of his voice. "Yes, we did. Why did you not come when I called you, Uncle?"

Kronos sighed. "Because I have a feeling of what you want to ask me and I don't think that I will be able to help you, firecracker."

Keahi looked confused. "How would you know…?" She stopped as a light when on in her head. "You're with Mother right now. Watching us."

Kronos looked her in the eyes. "Of course I am. Why would I not? What happens down here is going to have a clear impact on Time. If you do not stop Nen, then he will destroy the very fabric of time that holds this world together."

"Then why can't you help us? All we want to do is to go back in time to the discussion that Mother had with us about the Source when we were young," Kim said belligerently.

Kronos sighed. "Look, Kim. I may be your uncle, but I am Father Time first and foremost. I am bound by certain laws of the universe. I can not interfere. I interfered enough when took you back to Gaia's fortress. That was an area of gray. This is not. That is why your Mother told you guys all of those stories. They were meant to prepare you for this. She knew that Nen was still alive and most likely try to attack you during you're time down here."

The Daughter's looked disappointed at his response, but they all knew that he was correct.

Kronos smiled. "Look." He looked at the Charmed Ones and included them in on the next comment. "The eight of you are the most powerful witches on the planet. Look inside of yourselves. You will find the answers you seek there." With that cryptic remark, he vanished.

Piper nodded her head in disbelief. "Well that was helpful," she said sarcastically.

Keahi sighed. "It wasn't unexpected, though. I had hoped that he would be able to bend the rules since we are family, but I guess not. What are we going to do now?"

The women looked at each other, but their conversation was interrupted by Leo orbing in.

"Good. All of you are here. We have a problem."

Piper looked at him. "What kind of problem?"

Leo looked at her. "Demons have kidnapped five mortals."

Keahi got a strong feeling of dread in her stomach. "Who?"

"David, Mark, Ben and Darren. He has kidnapped the Daughter's love interests."

The only sound in the room was the collective gasps of horror of all the women.

**AN:** _Updated 9/18/07 for grammatical and spelling errors._


	9. Battle Prep

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews_

Chapter 9.

**Battle Prep**

The Daughters all fought down the feeling of panic that rose in their chests at the news that the men in their lives had been kidnapped.

Kesia was the first to react. "That's it," she said with venom in her voice. "I'm done playing. I don't care if it's the last thing that I do, I will destroy him. David and I were talking about marriage and if that evil demon thinks that by kidnapping him he can control me, he's got another thing coming."

The rest of the Daughters nodded in agreement. Kai took up the thread. "This ends now. We all need to sit together and see if between all of us we can remember what Mother was telling us."

The women quickly sat back down and slowly began to talk.

Kesia looked at her sisters. "I remember Mother saying something about how the Source was a lot like her. One demon chosen to rule over the darkness, to keep balance. I know for a fact that she told us that the Light could not survive without the Dark and vice versa."

Piper nodded in her agreement. "I agree with that. It's like yen and yang. One can't survive without the other.

Phoebe bit her lip in thought. "Okay. So if the Source is like Gaia in some regards, doesn't that mean that he is not immortal? Wouldn't he have the same lifespan as Gaia?"

Kai remembered something. "Actually, no. He is not supposed to survive as long as Gaia. He lives for a while, but his lifespan is actually in the hundreds instead of the thousands of years."

Paige looked at them. "So how is Nen the Source? Should he not have died thousands of years ago?"

Kansas looked at her, her face a picture of concentration as she fought to recall the fragment of memory that was teasing her. "He should have…Damn. Mother told us why he didn't. I can feel it on the tip of my tongue. It had something to do with her." Kansas' eyes became big as the realization dawned on her. "Oh, I remember! He somehow made it so that when the previous Gaia gave Mother the spell to extend her life, he got the benefit of it. He is drawing his power from her."

Kim made a noise of surprise. "Wasn't there a rhyme that she told us? Water to water, breath to breath. Light and Dark tied to the death. Live in peace bitter friends, Earth and demon will meet their end."

Keahi nodded. "You're right. So obviously, he is tied to Mother somehow, but he can't access her power. Gods know that he tried. Isn't that why he killed Mother's sisters? He was trying to shake her into losing control. She obviously knew about the bond. Didn't she say something about how if her sisters had not been killed, she would have seen if one of the other sisters could have taken her place. But he took that choice away from her. It only made her resolve stronger."

Piper looked at them. "Okay. Question. How did he tie himself to Gaia?" The women looked at her with confusion. "If we can find out how he tied himself, couldn't we undo that tie?"

Phoebe jumped up. "Wait. Does this mean that if we kill the Source then we kill Gaia?"

Keahi got a contemplative look on her face. "Not exactly. The Earth is a strong Mistress. The Earth will not allow Gaia to die until she transfers her powers. Mother told me that when she took control of the power, the original Gaia lived out her life in peace. If we kill the Source before breaking his connection with Mother, then once she transfers her power, she will die."

"Oh," Phoebe said. "Then let's find that connection. How do we do that?" 

Kansas looked at her. "I have no idea."

Leo had been watching the discussion, working the problem out in his head. A thought occurred to him and he cleared his throat. "I may have an idea." The women turned to look at him. "Phoebe. You and Keahi have the power of premonition. Is that not part of time? Is there someway you can see the past and not the future?"

Kim looked at her sisters. "What about that spell that Mother taught us? The one that allows us to go back in time as observers only. It seems like she has given us all the tools to solve this with, we just need to do it."

Kesia nodded. "Of course! Why didn't I think about that? Now if we can only remember the spell."

Keahi giggled. "We won't have to remember it. I brought the book that she showed us with me. I'll go get it." With that, she turned and ran up the stairs to the room that she was sharing with Phoebe.

When Keahi got back down, she discovered that the furniture had been moved again. She sat down on the couch and began to flip through the large book. "Ah-ha! Here it is. Okay. All of us need to be present to do this." She looked down at the pentagram laid out on the floor. "Piper, Phoebe and Paige. You need to stand in the middle of the pentagram. It only takes us to actually say the spell." She quickly wrote the spell down on five slips of paper and hand one to each of her sister.

"_Father Time hear our plea._

_Take us back so we can see._

_The time in which the bond was forged._

_The bond in which evil has gorged._

_Earth to Earth, sea to sea._

_As we will it, so mote it be."_

The women felt the air shimmering around them as their hair whipped their faces. A white fog surrounded them. As the fog cleared, the room turned into a chamber in one of the pyramids. They looked at each other and nodded. Slowly they walked up to one of the demons present, but he did not react to their presence. Keahi took a breath and whispered right into his ear, "Hello?" The demon still did not react. She turned and smiled. "Okay. So we can see and hear them, but they can't see or hear us. Good."

Piper smiled. "This is a great spell." She turned at the sound of a door opening. In walked Nen, before he had become the Source.

Nen looked at the demons in the lair. "Is everything ready?"

One of the looked at him. 'Yes, My Lord. The potion has been brewed according to your specifications, including the blood of the Daughter of Gaia."

"Good. It's the blood that is important. Without that, this would not work." Nen turned to look around the chamber. "Where is the seer? I need her here now."

"I am right here, My Lord. Or should I say, the Source of all Darkness. The event is about to occur. Ingest the potion as soon as she becomes Gaia and her life force and yours will be connected for eternity. I must warn you, My Lord. The bond can only be broken if either of you are to die. For you, a demon, death would be instantaneous. For her, it will not. The Earth will not allow her to die without an heir."

"So I live as long as she does, but if I am killed, she is not affected?"

"Correct. If you want to inherit her power when she chooses her heir, then you must drink the counter potion before her death."

"What counter potion? You never mentioned that."

The seer looked at him. "Simple, My Lord. You will need one Eye of Newt, five dragon scales, four crushed lizard bones ground into a fine dust and her blood. Let the first three ingredients simmer for a day, then just add her blood and ingest the potion. That will break the bond and allow you to kill her without repercussions."

Nen nodded. "Are you sure?"

She bowed deferentially. "Of course, My Lord. I am never wrong."

Nen turned his back to her and filled gold and precious stone incrusted goblet with the simmering potion. He looked back at the seer, who would tell him when he should drink the foul drink.

She nodded to him and went into a trance. "The ceremony is beginning." She waited patiently, while the eight women watched on in fascination. Each of them was mentally trying to calculate the ceremony in her head.

The seer opened her eyes. "Now, My Lord. Drink the potion, now."

Nen did as he was told and grimaced as he swallowed. When he was done, he looked at the seer. "That's it? I don't feel any different."

She smiled. "That's the point. If you were to feel different, she would be able to tell during these first few minutes."

Nen smiled evilly. "Good. Now, I believe it's time to kill the other Daughters, leaving her with no support." He turned quickly and began to give orders to the other demons.

The eight women looked at each other and decided that it was time to return to their time period. They linked hands and were soon standing back in the living room of the manor.

"Well," Piper said. "That was certainly interesting. I wonder whatever happened to that seer. If she were still alive, I think that I would just have to destroy her."

"You'd have to stand in line," growled Kesia. "I wanted to kill her right there!"

Keahi laughed. "I can almost guarantee you that Nen killed her soon afterwards. She was the only one that knew how to break the spell. Do you really think that he would leave her around as a liability?"

Paige laughed. "Oh, I agree! He probably incinerated her as soon as they were alone." She turned to them. "You do realize that we now know the counter potion and can brew it ourselves, right?"

Kim smiled. "You bet. I memorized the ingredient list. The only thing that we need is Mother's blood. I'm willing to bet that Kronos would bring some down for us."

Kai nodded. "I'll call him and see if he will. Why don't you guys work on a spell to kill Nen with while I do that?" She turned and left the room, while Paige and Phoebe put the furniture back in the proper places.

Once the furniture was back to normal, the others waited for Kai to join them. They turned as they heard her light footsteps coming down the stairs.

"Kronos agreed and he brought me this vile," she said, extending her hand towards Kim, who was holding the other ingredients. "Here you go. Mother sends her regards and says that she is relieved that we figured it out. She said that she would have told us, but with all the rules in place she wasn't certain that it would be permitted."

Kim took the vile of blood and sighed in her relief. "I'll get to work on the potion right now. The sooner we have it completed, the sooner will can kill him."

The rest of the women nodded to her as she left the room.

Piper resumed control of the situation. "Now we need to come up with a spell to defeat him. We also need to devise a solution to how we get him to ingest the potion. I can't imagine that he would ever willing drink anything one of us gave him."

Kansas thought for a moment. "I have an idea. It might be stupid, but it might work."

Kesia looked at her. "Well, no idea is stupid, so go on. Tell us."

Kansas drew in a breath. "What if the demon that we have captive happened to get free. With the knowledge that we were creating a powerful potion to protect us from Nen. Something that would grant the protection of Mother Earth to us mortals." She smiled sardonically. "Serve him right. We could also manage to plant the idea of where we wanted me him on the battlefield."

Phoebe got were she was going with her drift. "Oh! I see. Plant the information, but in a way to guarantee that he would want to use the protection. Kesia, Paige? Did you guys find a good spot for the battle?"

Paige nodded. "Yes. Inyo National Forest. It's in Eastern California, close to the Nevada border. It's got over half a million acres of land. It would be easier to set up the protections there since there are a lot of acres to cover."

Piper nodded. "I like both ideas. Kesia and Paige. Why don't both of you go and pick out the battle site now. Go ahead and put up the protections. That should give us enough time to make sure that all the innocents are clear from that area." She turned to Keahi as the other two nodded their agreement and left. "Keahi, why don't you figure out a way to let the demon get free and somehow overhear our plans? The rest of us will work on the spell to destroy Nen once and for all."

Keahi bobbed her head. "It will take some doing, but I might be able to manage to convince him that he is responsible for breaking the shields. It might make us look weak, but then they will underestimate us. Good plan. I like that. Let me go see if there is anything in the books I brought that can help me. I'll have to be careful." With that, she turned and quickly ran up the stairs to her room.

The four remaining women looked at each other. Piper grabbed some paper. "So, what should this be? It's going to need to be a very powerful spell and more than likely all of us will have to say it to destroy him."

Kai looked thoughtful. "What about calling on the power of Gaia? It's something that any magical being can do and something that he probably would not have thought of."

Phoebe nodded. "That sounds like a place to start. Why don't we chase that particular hare to see if we can make something of it?"

The other women nodded and silently began to form some sort of spell to bring the destruction of the beast.

(Keahi and Phoebe's room)

Keahi sat on the bed and began to flip through the pages in frustration. She knew that she could just cancel the dampening field, but then the demon would realize that something was up. She also wanted someway to convince Nen to bring his hostages along with him, so that the team would not be split up in rescuing them as well. She sighed in frustration as she through the book that she was looking at onto the bed. _That was no help._

She picked up the next book and began to leaf through it. As her eyes scanned the pages, she let her mind wander, so that she could work out the problem in her head. She was deep into her thoughts when she glanced down at the page and saw a spell to grant the caster invisibility. _Huh. I think I could work with that. That way I could see what he was doing and make the shields react accordingly. Now how would I make sure that he got Nen to bring the guys?_

While she was letting her mind roam over that problem, she copied the spell down. Sighing, she decided to go see how the others were doing.

When she walked into the bedroom, she noticed that Piper, Phoebe, Kai and Kansas were talking excitedly. She peered at them and asked, "What's going on?"

Kai looked up. "Hey! We think that we have the spell to finish of Nen. We were just going over it to make sure that it would work. How'd it go with you?"

Keahi raised her eyebrows. "Well, I think that I found a way to convince the demon that he got free under his own power, but I can't figure out how to make sure that he will tell Nen to bring the guys to the battle site."

Phoebe looked at her. "That was something that we didn't think of. I just assumed that he would. I mean, it makes sense for him to do that. If he does, then that means that we have to split up and try to rescue them first."

Kansas looked worried. "If we have to play rescuers and try to kill Nen, then we will probably lose. I don't want to lose Mark. I know that he is the one for me. I've been trying to work up the courage to tell him that I am a witch."

Piper looked at the Daughters. She sat for a moment in contemplation. "What if…" she started, but then stopped.

Keahi looked at her. "What if what?"

Piper furrowed her brow. "We've split into pairs. What if one of the pairs was in charge of rescuing all the guys? That way six would be fighting the Source and the inevitable demons that will be helping him. Once we free one of them, we can have Leo orb them back here so that they will be safe. We know that demons can't enter here anymore."

The rest of the women looked at her. "I think that it's a good idea," said Kai. "It's a smart division of our forces. The question is…Who will be in charge of that?"

All of them sat in thought. "Honestly," said Kansas. "I think that it should be you, Piper and Phoebe."

"Why?" asked Phoebe.

Kansas cocked her head. "Realistically? The demons surrounding Nen will more than likely be upper level demons. Which means that they will be partially immune to your power, Piper. While, I believe, the demons guarding the guys will be lower level demons. You can freeze them and then once all of them are safe, you guys can rejoin the fight."

Piper, who had bristled at the thought of being out of the fight with the Source, carefully considered what Kansas was saying. "Damn. You're right Kansas. That really would be the best division of labor. I'm up for it. What about you, Phoebe?"

Phoebe nodded her assent and was just about to say something when Paige and Kesia orbed back in.

"The ward off and shields are set," said Kesia. "I'm kinda tired right now. That took more out of me than I had imagined."

Keahi smiled. "Why?"

Kesia rolled her eyes. "It's because I had to set the shield to allow the demons to come into the combat zone, but prevent them from leaving. I must say, that is hard to do! How have things been here?"

Piper answered her. "Well, we have the spell to destroy the Source. Kim is working on the potion. Keahi thinks she has found away to let the demon escape without him knowing that we are letting him escape. And…we have figured out how to divide up so that we can both save the guys and destroy the Source."

"Wow," Paige exclaimed with a whistle. "You guys have been busy! What about planning to planting where we want the battle to take place?"

Keahi shrugged her shoulders. "That one I'm having a bit of trouble with. I'm not sure how to give him the information with him knowing that I am giving him the info."

"That's easy," said Kim from the doorway. She walked into the room, wiping her hands off on a towel. "We make the plans and walk by the open door to the attic while discussing them. The Source isn't going to want a lot of collateral damage, either. If there are a lot of people around, then he can't truly use all of his powers. Too many distractions."

The seven other women turned to stare at Kim. She looked back at them. "What? Tell me I'm wrong here."

Paige laughed. "No. You're not wrong, but we just can't believe that we never thought of that!"

Kim smiled. "Oh. Okay. The potion will be ready tomorrow. I believe, and this is just a belief, that it should be potent for forty-eight hours after it gets finished brewing."

Piper nodded her head. "Okay. So what we need to do, is finalize our plans, then sometime tomorrow, we'll walk by the room and discuss this new potion we just brewed that will give us immunity to the Source's powers by giving us the protection of Mother Earth. What if we let the demon go before we do this? We can walk by the room and wet his appetite, but make the information so tempting that he has to stick around to hear it all?"

Keahi nodded. "That's good. I can communicate with my sister's telepathically and let them know when the demon is free. That way, he won't actually hear any of our real plans."

"That sounds like a great idea. We have to make sure that the potion is ready before he gets free," Kim said.

Everyone else agreed and sat back down to finalize their plans.

(2 days later)

"Keahi," Kim called.

Keahi walked into the kitchen. "Yes, sister-mine?"

Kim smiled. "The potion is ready."

Keahi nodded. "Okay. Phase One complete. Now let's move on to Phase Two."

They both moved on to let everyone else know that potion was ready. Once they completed that, Keahi moved to her room. Taking the book out of her bag she muttered the invisibility spell to herself. Once invisible, she contacted Kesia through telepathy. _:Kesia? I'm ready. Come outside of Phoebe's room. I'll follow you into the attic and then stay there once you leave.:_

_:Of course.: _came her reply. _:I'm almost there.:_

Kesia moved outside the door and heard Keahi say, "Okay. Let's do this."

Kesia just nodded and continued onto her path to the attic. She opened the door and did not even spare the demon a look as she walked to a box and pulled a couple of items out. She turned around just as quietly and left the room, leaving the door partially open.

Maliki noticed this and grinned gleefully. He felt like he had gotten somewhere with trying to break the protections and conjured an energy ball. He had noticed the day before that the dampening field was weakening. He began to throw energy balls at the shield surrounding him until he felt them break.

Just as they broke, he heard footsteps outside of the attic.

"So, the potion is complete?" asked Piper.

"Yes," replied Kim. "It will give us immunity from magical attacks by invoking the protection of the Earth. The Source will not know what hit him!"

"Good," said Piper. "Then we can draw The Source to the Inyo National Forest tomorrow and finally put an end to him."

"I agree. With the eight of us…" Kim's voice faded as they got farther away from the room.

Maliki thought for a moment. _I must steal this potion for The Source. He will reward me favorably for giving him the power of protection from the Earth itself._ He smiled evilly and began to make his way out of the attic, not knowing that Keahi was watching every move with a satisfied smile on her face.

**AN:** _Updated 9/18/07 for grammatical and spelling errors._


	10. Good VS Evil

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews_

Chapter 10.

**Good VS Evil**

The Source sat on this throne, listening to the reports from his demons who had taken the Daughter's loves. He smiled in triumph. "You mean to tell me that none of the Daughters have revealed to these humans that they are in fact witches? That certainly works in our favor…" He broke off as he saw Maliki walk into the room. "Maliki? You've been missing for several days. You had better have an adequate reason or your punishment will be very severe."

Maliki walked towards the Source and slowly bowed. "I do, My Lord. The reason I was unable to contact you was because the Daughters captured me."

The Source raised his eyebrows. "If that is so, then how did you get free? If they set you free, then this must be a trap."

"No, My Lord. I managed to break through the shields that one of the Daughters had set. From what I overheard, she is very young and unpracticed in setting shields like this up. But I do coming bearing a gift for you. Just as I broke the shield down, two of the witches walked past the room where they had me. They were talking about a potion that they had created to give them immunity to your powers by invoking the power of the Earth. I stole part of the potion and put some additional ingredients in the remaining to make it useless. Now you will have immunity to their powers and they will be vulnerable to your powers." Maliki finished his explanation with a gleam in his black eyes.

The Source nodded his head. "Very good. Where is this potion?"

Maliki withdrew a bottle from his robes. "Here you go, My Lord. I also know that the witches intend to draw you to Inyo National Forest for the final battle. Do you wish to attack them immediately?"

The Source shook his head. "No. Let them make their plans. Then we will surprise them. Prepare the hostages for transport. They will come with us in order to distract them."

Maliki bowed his head. "As you wish, My Lord." He then bowed out of the room and began to make his plans.

**

* * *

Keahi had followed Maliki around until she was sure he had left the house. Once he was gone, she strengthened the wards to prevent him from coming back. Then she muttered another set of words and she came back into focus of the rest of the room.**

Piper saw Keahi reappear and let out a little yelp in surprise. "Holy…" She paused for a second to catch her breath. "Can you warn a girl when you're going to do that, Keahi? You scared the bejesus out of me! Although, since you are visible, now, that does mean that the demon is gone, right?"

Keahi smiled. "I'm sorry I startled you and yes he is gone. He did ruin the potion before leaving, so I really hope the Source drinks what he gives him."

Piper nodded. "I figured that he would do that, and I actually hid some away, so that if he didn't take the potion, we can force it down his throat before we kill him. In interest of preparing for the battle, I believe that we should go to bed early tonight. We are going to need to be fresh in order to defeat him."

Keahi nodded in agreement. "I agree. I'll let my sisters know. We should get out to the forest early tomorrow. You never know when he is going to show up. The earlier we get there, the better."

Piper nodded her agreement and without another word they both prepared to go to bed.

**

* * *

When Keahi awoke the following morning, she felt a little nagging at her sense. Confused, she shook herself awake to try to comprehend where the feeling was coming from.**

Phoebe woke up when she heard Keahi moving around. She looked confused at the clock which read four a.m. "What's going on? Are we under attack?"

Keahi smiled in the dark. "No. I just have a feeling. It's like a prescience of…not doom, but of a great battle ahead of us. It's not as bad as the feeling that I had before I left Mother's fortress, but close to it. Why do I feel, with absolute certainty, that today is going to be a very long day?"

Phoebe sat quietly for a moment, trying to read her own emotions at what the day had in store for her. "I'm not sure, but I can tell you that I am feeling the same things. It's like the feeling I have is a portend of the future."

Keahi nodded, and then realized that Phoebe could not see her in the dark. "Exactly. Okay. I feel a bit better now, knowing that it's not just me with these feelings. We'd better go back to sleep and try to rest up as much as possible."

"I agree," said Phoebe. "We don't have to be up and moving around for another two hours, minimum. I'd like a chance to catch some more sleep."

Both women lay back down in their beds, but Keahi was unable to sleep. Finally, giving up on sleep itself, she decided to meditate and try to bring the calmness to her that she knew she was going to need. She did not bring herself out of the self induced trance until she heard someone else up and moving around in the house. Quietly, she got out of bed and made her way downstairs.

She walked into the kitchen, unsurprised to see that Piper was preparing breakfast. "Good morning. Is there anything that I can do to help you?"

Piper looked up. "No. Cooking helps me calm down and I've got a bit of nerves to work out before we leave today."

Keahi nodded her agreement. "I completely understand. I've been meditating for the last hour and a half trying to do the same thing. I have a sense of foreboding at today. What ever happens today, it's going to shift the balance of power between good and evil for many years to come."

Piper looked at her in concern. "What do you mean by 'shift the balance of power'? Does that mean that evil may finally become stronger than good?"

"No!" Keahi interjected. "I just mean that right now good and evil are fairly well balanced, as it should be. It means that there is a possibility that if we lose then evil will be able to overtake good, but if we win, evil is going to take a huge blow and it will take many years for them to recover."

"Oh. Okay, I feel better than. I'm not prepared to lose."

Keahi smiled at that. "Of course not, neither am I." She stopped in her musing as the rest of the group began to trickle in, one by one.

There was a general chorus of 'Good Morning' while the coffee mugs began to be filled up. They were all aware that they must eat a hardy breakfast before they left to go to the battle site.

Once they had finished breakfast and cleaned up the dishes, they all went to their rooms to change into what they would be wearing to fight in. All the women chose clothing that would allow for a free range of motion as well as would protect them from the elements if needed. Unconsciously, each Daughter dressed in the colors that her power reflected.

Kesia was the first to finish dressing. She walked around the house, knowing that it could be the last time that she had a chance to explore. She studied the pictures and smiled to herself at the display of loyalty and love that the pictures recorded. _The Charmed Ones have a tight bond. I hope that I get a chance to discover that with my sisters. If things go horribly wrong, we won't have any mementos of each other except for our memories._ She stopped her train of thought when she realized where it was going. _Wow, I'm getting maudlin today. Damn you, Nen. You will pay for what you have done to my family. I will exact my revenge on you!_

Kesia turned as she heard the rest of the group walking down the stairs. She turned and saw the looks of determination on their faces. She nodded to each one as they joined hands to await Leo orbing in.

There was a flash of white light as Leo entered the room. He nodded to the women, knowing, in his heart, that they would prevail over the Source. He joined the circle of women. "The message has been delivered, although we already know that it was not needed."

Piper smiled. "It's all a part of the ruse, dear. If we didn't do something to lure him there, then he would be suspicious of the potion and suspect a trap."

Leo nodded. "I know. I don't like it, but I know. I take it everyone is ready to go?" At the nods of agreement, he joined hands with the circle and along with Paige, brought everyone to the battle site. It was a clearing that was approximately five hundred feet wide in both the width and length.

The women looked around to make sure that the Source had not arrived. All was quiet. Piper smiled and looked at Leo. "You'd better go. If we need you, will call."

Leo nodded and bent his head to capture her lips in a sweet kiss. "Be careful. I love you."

Piper smiled. "I love you, too." She watched as he orbed away. Once he was gone, she turned to the women. "Okay. Everyone split up into your pairs. When the Source shows up, Phoebe and I will go after the hostages and make sure that they are protected. Once we get done with that, we will come rejoin the fight. If you get into any trouble, just yell. We'll find you and do our best to help. Got it?"

Everyone nodded and split up. Paige and Kesia walked to the east, to take their positions in the trees. Keahi and Kansas went to the south. Kai and Kim walked to the west and Phoebe and Piper walked to the north. They all hid in the forest and did not have wait long before the demons showed up.

**

* * *

Piper and Phoebe looked at each other when the demons began to shimmer in. They knew that they had to be extra quiet and look for the hostages. Slowly they crept closer to the demons, careful not to disturb any of the wildlife to announce their arrival. Both looked in opposite directions, scanning the group of people for the four helpless men.**

Piper felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to the direction that Phoebe was pointing to. She could see a young, shaggy haired man surrounded by eight demons. "Geez," she whispered. "A little overkill on the protection around him!"

Phoebe fought down a laugh at Piper's dry comment. "Yeah. How are we going to get him away from them?"

Piper thought for a moment. "The only thing I can do is try to blow them up. It's going to be messy, but the quicker we move, the more likely we can rescue him before he gets hurt."

Phoebe looked at her. "Try freezing them first. Let's see if we can do this without fireworks."

Piper nodded and concentrated. She moved her hands to no avail. The demons kept moving. "Well, that solves it. They're upper level demons that are immune to my freezing power. That leaves the potions and blowing them up. You ready?"

Phoebe nodded and both women moved out of the shadows behind the demons. "Hey!" Phoebe yelled. The group of demons turned around and quickly two of them met their demise.

The other demons growled and began to throw energy balls at them. Phoebe and Piper dodged them deftly and Piper blew up another demon. The demons began to move towards them, leaving the man unattended for the time being.

Phoebe moved towards the demons and began to fight with one hand to hand. She dodged a punch that was aimed and her head and swept her leg along the ground, knocking the demon from his feet. Once he was down, she threw a potion at him and he quickly disintegrated. She didn't pause in her fighting, knowing that they were outnumbered.

Piper watched Phoebe fighting up close with the demons and smiled as she killed one. She noticed one creeping up on Phoebe and quickly blew him up. Her smile grew as she noticed the remaining demons try to shimmer out of harm's way, but they were unable to since the shields kept them in.

Phoebe noticed one of the demons making his way back towards the young man and threw a potion at him, to prevent him from reaching him. She looked at Piper and inclined her head towards the man. She began to walk towards him.

Piper quickly covered her back and blew up the remaining demons. She ran to Phoebe's side and looked over the stunned young man. He was badly beaten and not fully aware of what was going on.

"No. Don't hurt me. Please! I don't know anything about Kim…please," he pled in earnest.

Phoebe, who was better at deal with emotions than Piper was, laid her hand on his head. "Shush. It's alright. We are friends of Kim's. We are here to rescue you. You're safe now."

The man looked up and sighed when he saw two normal looking women looking at him with concern in their eyes. "Oh, thank God."

Piper looked at him. "Are you able to walk?"

The man nodded and slowly got to his feet. "Who are you?"

Piper looked at him. "I'm Piper. This is Phoebe. What's your name?"

"I'm Darren."

Phoebe nodded. "Darren, follow up and we'll get you to safety. Be quiet though. Do you know where the other men are?"

He shook his head. "No. They kept us in separate cells. What are these things?"

Phoebe sighed. "Demons…We'll explain later."

Their quiet conversation had taken them to the edge of the forest where Piper pointed to a tree. "Go stand there." She turned and looked up at the sky. Leo!"

Darren gasped as the man appeared out of nowhere.

Leo looked at him and nodded. "I'll get him to safety. Be careful."

Piper just smiled as Leo and Darren orbed out of danger. "Okay. One saved, three to go. Let's start the hunt."

**

* * *

Kai stood in awe as the demons kept appearing in the clearing. She knew, logically, that the Source would have assembled an army to fight them, but being faced with the reality of it was overwhelming. "Wow. I've never seen so many demons in one place before. Are you still keeping count?"**

Kim shook her head. "No. I lost count at seventy-eight. This is more than I had anticipated. I hope there are enough minerals around here for me to control. I'm a little out of practice actually using the mineral of the Earth. In Dallas, I usually use metal trashcans. It's so much fun to make those into flying discs and fling them at the demons."

Kai made a small noise in the back of her throat. "I'm with you there. I'm used to having the ocean to draw my power from." She paused as she saw signs of destruction coming from the north. "I think that Phoebe and Piper have found one of the guys. I hear some explosions. We'd better distract the rest of them."

Kim nodded and drew a breath. She muttered under her breath and felt her power flowing out of her hands into the Earth, searching for minerals. She found a deposit of lead a couple of feet below the surface and quickly brought them to her. The minerals gathered around her, swirling in a tornado fashion. She muttered again and the minerals coalesced into sharp stars. With a fling of her arms, the stars flew at the demons, catching many of them by surprise. Most of the hits were not fatal, but out of the ten demons hit, there would be two less to fight them.

Kai watched in admiration as Kim made the stars. She used her water sense to seek out water and felt a stream a couple of hundred feet to her left. She took a deep breath and drew the water to her. She smiled as she felt it hurtling towards her. With a thought, she directed the water to the center point of the knot of demons. The water hit those who were stunned by Kim's attack and did not expect a different attack so soon. The water hit them like a ton of bricks. Many demons fell to their knees, in shock. Kai then sought out the water below the demons and forced it away from the area, making the ground unstable.

_:Kim. I've removed all the ground water from the area. See if you force all of the demons into a circle. Then I'll reintroduce the water, causing a sink hole and trap them there.:_

Kim smiled at her sister's plan. _:Now where did you learn that trick, sister-mine? Brilliant idea!:_ Kim drew the lead to her again and began to swirl it around the demons, forcing them into a circle.

Kai saw what she was doing and as soon as the demons were close together, she flooded the ground with water again. This caused the earth to begin to buckle underneath them. She then drew all the water out again and the ground opened up in a gaping hole. The demons fell in as the water began to swirl over their heads. Some of the demons began to try to climb out, but Kim kept the lead flying at them, preventing them from escaping.

Both women spared a glance to each other and smiled with the same thought going through their heads. _I wonder how everyone else is doing._

**

* * *

Piper began to walk back toward the clearing after Leo and Darren left. She was careful to stay in the trees, searching for clues of where the other men were being held. She carefully placed each of her steps so not to cause any sound. She felt a slight breeze as Phoebe moved behind her.**

"Do you have any thought on where to find the others?" Phoebe asked.

Piper looked back at here. "I'm thinking that we should scout the edges. If they aren't with the rest of the demons, then we can begin a search of the woods."

"Good idea. Let's head east, towards Paige and Kesia."

Silently, the girls moved to the east, still being careful not to make any noise. Soon, they were halfway between where they had found Darren and where Paige and Kesia were busy fighting the group of demons that surrounded them. Piper stopped and motioned to Phoebe. Phoebe looked around Piper's shoulder and noticed a sandy haired man who was lying prone on the ground. He did not appear to be moving.

Piper turned to Phoebe and said, "Same plan as last time?"

Phoebe nodded her assent and soon the demons were fighting the two experienced witches. The man did not move as the demons were killed around him and once all the demons were gone, the two women moved towards him. Phoebe reached him first and bent down to feel his pulse. "He's alive. We'd better get Leo here."

Piper looked up and prepared to call for Leo when he suddenly appeared. "Holy…Leo? How did you know we needed you?"

Leo smiled sheepishly. "I've been monitoring you. I figured that the less you had to talk, the safer it would be."

"Oh. Good. Take are of him. He's alive, but I don't know how badly injured he is. He was unconscious when we arrived."

Leo nodded. "I'll take good care of him." Leo moved to the man and bent down. He made a quick assessment. "He's got some broken bones and likely a concussion. I don't think he is in serious condition, but I've got the take care of the broken ribs first. If I move him before I do, I could puncture a lung." He held his hands over him and the golden glow of his healing powers radiated from him to the man who groaned as he began to wake up.

"Who are you? Where am I?" he asked groggily.

Leo looked at him. "My name is Leo." He motioned to Piper and Phoebe. "That's Piper and Phoebe. You are in Inyo National Forest. What's your name?"

"Ben."

Leo thought for a moment. "You are Kai's boyfriend, aren't you?" At the man's nod in agreement he continued, "We are friends of Kai's. I'm going to take you to safety." He laid his hand on Ben and soon they were orbing away.

Phoebe looked at Piper. "Two left. Lead on and let's get this done so we can destroy the Source."

**

* * *

Paige and Kesia crouched silently in the forest. They wasted no energy on anything, trying to save it up. They knew that it was just a waiting game. When the demons began to shimmer in, they turned to each other, disbelief in their eyes at the sheer number of demons that were appearing.**

Paige dared to whisper, "Oh, God. Look at how many there are! The Source is not playing around."

Kesia nodded in silent agreement. "We should give it a couple of minutes, then attack. This will hopefully distract them from Phoebe and Piper. They are going to need all the help they can get."

Paige drew in a breath and nodded her agreement. She held herself back from jumping into the battle. Finally, when she saw no more demons entering, she turned to Kesia. "Now."

Kesia nodded and closed her eyes in concentration. Suddenly tremors began to shake the leaves from the trees and cracks began to appear in the earth.

The demons stopped milling around and all turned with their backs to the center, searching for the source of the disruptions in the Earth. They assumed defensive postures, with energy balls at the ready.

Kesia opened her eyes and stood. Her eyes, normally a brilliant emerald green, had darkened to a deep sea green. She held her hands out a little from her sides, controlling her power through them. She began to walk towards the demons, the tremors growing stronger.

The demons noticed her walking towards them and grinned evilly. The closest part of the group of them threw a barrage of energy balls at her.

Paige saw the looks in their eyes and was beside Kesia before they threw the energy balls. She called out, "ENERGY BALLS!". In the blink of an eye, five balls flew to her and she threw them back at the demons, each one incinerating their originator.

Kesia also saw the energy balls coming towards her and suddenly and wall of earth appeared in front of her. The energy balls crashed into the wall, which withstood the punishment with ease.

Paige saw the Kesia was well defended and stepped around the obstruction. She quickly threw some potions at more of the demons. Quickly, a couple of more demons fell victim to the powerful potion that all of the witches were carrying.

Kesia, free from having to worry about the demons harming her with energy balls, quickly used her power to pick up some stray branches that had fallen onto the forest floor. She deftly carved them into points and sent a barrage of twenty flying spears at the demons. Each one hit a target, half of them were fatal.

Paige saw what Kesia had done and smiled. "Nice! Let's do this!" She threw herself back into the battle. Kesia grinned and did the same.

**

* * *

Piper and Phoebe continued to move towards the east, keeping quiet in the great trees of the forest. They were careful not to move in any straight lines, so they didn't attract any attention. They noticed a few stray demons patrolling the area and were being extra careful not to bring attention to themselves.**

Finally, Piper stopped for a moment and turned towards Phoebe. "I think that there is a knot of demons ahead."

Phoebe looked at her. "How do you know this?"

"The birds are quiet. Let's start hiding behinds trees on our way to the next stop."

Phoebe agreed and quietly they slinked to the next tree. Phoebe pushed her hair away from her face, it wasn't hot, but all the strenuous physical activity was starting to wear her out. Soon, she was able to make out the faint mummers of talking. She looked at Piper and noticed that she had also picked up on the sound.

Quietly, they crept closer to the sound and found a group of demons surrounding a dark haired man. Phoebe didn't even wait to see if Piper could freeze the demons; she just threw some potions at them.

Though the demons were caught by surprise, they launched their own counterattack at the women. Phoebe deft dodged one energy ball, but another one clipped her shoulder. "Ow! Damn, that hurt."

"Phoebe!" Piper yelled. "You okay?"

Phoebe withdrew from the battle and propped herself up against a tree. "I'm fine. Come on, we've got to kill these things!"

Piper nodded and with her anger cresting she quickly blew up the remaining demons. "There, all done." She spared a glance at Phoebe and saw Leo orb in beside her. Leo nodded to her and Piper made her way to the prone man.

The man was moving groggily and attempting to move. "Who are you?"

"I'm Piper. What's your name?"

"Mark."

Piper thought for a moment. "Are you Kansas' boyfriend?"

The man nodded his head. "You know Kansas? Where is she? Is she alright?"

Piper touched his arm, lightly. "Yes, I know her. She's fine. We need to get you to safety, though." She turned around and looked over her shoulder. "Leo?" she called. "If you're done with Phoebe, perhaps you can take Mark to safety?"

Leo walked over. "Sure. The other two guys are doing okay. I'll take him back to the Manor, so we can keep them safe."

Piper nodded as watched Leo and Mark orb away. She walked over to where Phoebe was resting. "Are you sure you're okay?

Phoebe looked up at Piper. "I'm fine. Leo healed me. So which guy was that?"

"Mark. That just means that David is still being held by the demons. We'd better go and see if we can find him." Piper bent over and extended her hand to help Phoebe up.

"Thanks. Let's go. We've wasted enough time." Phoebe signed as they began to move between the trees again.

**

* * *

Keahi and Kansas waited impatiently while the demons shimmered in. _:Kansas? Have you ever seen this many demons before?:_**

_:No. There must be close to a hundred. The most that I've ever taken on was about fifteen. That was by myself. It's a little harder with controlling wind because I can't actually kill demons with the wind. All I can do is surround them and then throw a potion at them.:_

Keahi pondered that thought for a moment. _:What about if you wrap them in a tornado and then throw them into a tree? The wind will make them spin so fast that when they hit the tree, it should break bones if not a spine. As far as I know, a demon is similar to humans in that way. You break their spine, they can't move.:_

_:Huh. I hadn't thought of that. Great idea, sis!:_ Kansas broke off her thought when she saw that there were no more demons shimmering in. _:I think it is time.:_ She looked at Keahi, who also nodded.

The two women moved out of hiding slowly, creeping up on the demons. Keahi saw Kansas look at her. She smiled and sent a thought at her sister. _:How about a fire tornado? That should do a whole bunch of them in.:_ Kansas didn't answer, she just nodded, so Keahi created a fireball in front of her.

Kansas concentrated and slowly a funnel of air appeared. She slowly introduced it to the fire and soon there was a small tornado of fire spinning in front of her. With another thought, she pushed the tornado away from her, causing it to expand with every inch that it moved.

It reached the demons when it was about ten feet wide. The tornado enveloped one demon before the remaining demons noticed it's presence. They began to panic as they tried to get away from it.

When three demons ran out of the way, Keahi lobbed fireballs at them they caused them to turn to ash. She turned to Kansas and said, "Can you make the tornado bigger?"

Kansas nodded, not speaking so not to break her concentration. She took in a breath and then blew it out, causing the tornado to triple in size. With the sudden change in size, fifteen more demons were incinerated.

Keahi grinned in triumph as the dwindling numbers of the demons and quickly began to hurl fireballs at the fleeing demons. _:I hope the others are doing as well as us, sister-mine.:_

Kansas spared a grin. _:So do I. So do I.:_

**

* * *

Piper and Phoebe continued their trek through the forest. Phoebe knew by the forest sounds they the demons were not close, so she risked speaking. "Piper. Do you know where we are compared to the clearing? I'm completely turned around."**

Piper stopped, glad for the small break to catch her breath. "I have a compass with me. We started out north of the clearing and we've been moving in pretty much a direct easterly direction. So pretty much, if we head west, will make it back to the battle. The only problem is that the demons were so spread out that we are out of earshot of the rest of the girls. I hope that they are doing okay on their own. If they were to call out in trouble then we won't be able to hear them."

Phoebe nodded. "Good. I'm glad that you are prepared. I didn't even think about that. I feel so stupid."

Piper laughed. "I'm just used to preparing more than you are! I'm a planner."

Phoebe laughed back. "You're right. You are. We'd better get going."

Piper nodded and resumed her stalking walk. Soon, she raised her hand in silence as the animal sounds stopped and a branch broke somewhere in the distance. Piper turned towards the sound and motioned for Phoebe to follow her. They walked for close to ten minutes before the sounds of a fight intruded on the peaceful silence of the forest. They could make out the sounds of a man yelling. Both looked at each other and sped up their walking.

"Come on you stupid oaf! You really want to pick on someone smaller than you? Fine. Let's go."

Both women almost ran into a small clearing and were amazed to see a blond man throwing punches at a large black demon. The demon was laughing as he took the punches with ease. The demon raised his hand punch the man when Phoebe decided to interfere. "Hey! Ugly!" she yelled. As the demon turned around to see who had dared to yell at him, the potion that she had thrown hit him in the back and he burst into flames.

The rest of the demons began to react, but Piper began to blow them up. Phoebe kept throwing potions and then closed for some hand to hand combat. She ducked an energy ball that one had thrown at her and saw it hit another demon. "Thanks for that, stupid." Then she levitated above one of the two remaining demons and kicked one towards Piper and she hit the other demon with her last vile of potion while Piper blew up the remaining demon.

Both women turned to the blond man who was slumped in the middle of the clearing. Phoebe cleared her throat. "You are David, right?"

He looked up at them in confusion. "Yes. Do I know you?"

Piper smiled. "We're friends of Kesia. I'm Piper."

"I'm Phoebe. We've got to get you to safety before any more demons come back."

"You mean I'm not hallucinating? Those things are real?"

Phoebe smiled. "No. You're not going crazy. Demons and witches are real. I'd love to go into more detail right now, but we are running short on time." She looked up as she saw Leo orb in. "Leo? Will you take him to the Manor with the rest of the guys?"

"Sure." He turned to David. "I'll explain a little more when we get you safe. Take my hand."

David looked at him and tentatively took his hand. Leo orbed both of them away.

Phoebe turned back to Piper. "We'd better get back to the clearing. It would have been nice if Leo could have orbed us there."

Piper shrugged her shoulders. "He has to keep the guys safe. He'll hear us if we need." Piper looked at her compass and pointed in a westerly direction. "We should go that way. We'd better either walk really fast or jog."

Phoebe nodded. "Let's jog for a little bit, then we can slow to a fast walk to regain our breath before we get to the clearing."

**

* * *

Kim and Kai were exhausted. They leaned on each other for support after they had struck down the last of the demons around them. The looked across the clearing and saw that Paige, Kesia, Kansas and Keahi were not in much better shape. With shaking legs, all the women met in the middle of where they were.**

Kesia was the one who spoke first. "Okay," she said in between panting breaths. "We've taken out all of the demons here, but where in the nine hells is Nen?"

Paige shook her head. "I have no clue. I want to know where Piper and Phoebe are. We've been fighting for close to two hours and they haven't made it back?"

Kesia shook her head at that. "Paige, we enclosed a lot of area within these shields. They may have had to go a long way to reach the guys. I hope they are on their way back."

Kim spoke up. "We saw them at the beginning of the fight. They had moved east of the position they had taken in the north."

Kai nodded. "Right. That's why we started attacking the demons when we did. We wanted to distract them. They had already gone after one of the guys. I couldn't tell who it was, though. There were too many demons around them. Then I got a little distracted."

Kim smiled. "We were both a little distracted. When we had a moment to breathe, I looked back, but they were gone."

Kansas cleared her throat. "I trust that Leo would inform us if something had happened to them?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah. He can heal most wounds, though."

Keahi looked around. "It looks like we are getting a temporary reprieve here. I suggest that we put up a shield so that if the Source tries to assassinate us, nothing can get through. I have just enough energy to do it. It will also give us a true chance to rest and gather our strength."

Kesia smiled. "That's my youngest sister. Always thinking about defense. And I have more energy than you. I'll put up the shield."

Kim, Kansas and Kai laughed. Paige looked on in confusion.

Keahi took pity on her and explained. "When Mother was training all of us, I was…reluctant to learn any offensive techniques at first. I fully thought that the best offense was a good defense. I mean that is basically what the Earth has to do. It defends itself against interlopers. So Kesia used to try to get me mad enough to throw some offensive magic at her. She never made me mad enough, though."

Kesia sighed. "That's strange. I would have figured that with you controlling fire, you would have a short temper. But truth be told, you have a better hold on your temper than any of us."

"Well, I think having four older sisters has something to do with that," Keahi shot back in a playful jibe. "Let's sit down. No reason not to. We just have to wait for them to get back."

The others nodded and joined her on the ground.

**

* * *

The closer that Piper and Phoebe got to the main clearing, the slower they moved. They felt a sense of unease when they heard no sounds coming from the clearing. The crept cautiously, with a little trepidation in their heart. When they got the edge of the clearing, the felt relief course through their bodies at the sight of all of the women sitting in a circle in the middle of the field. They looked at each other and then broke into a tired job to join their sisters in arms.**

Paige saw them first. "Phoebe! Piper!"

All the women stood up and Kesia eased the restrictions on the shield to allow them in before strengthening them again. They allowed the two to catch their breath before interrogating them.

"So?" Paige queried.

"We got all of them," Phoebe began. "I am really impressed with David, by the way. He was fighting the demons when we found him."

Kesia smiled. "That doesn't surprise me. He is a cop. It's in his nature."

Piper smiled. "You'd be proud of him. Minimal denial on the whole demon and witches thing."

"What about the others? What kind of shape were they in?" asked Paige.

"We rescued Darren first. He was in a lot of shock, but he's okay. Ben was next. He was badly beaten, but Leo healed him. Mark was mentally shaken up, but with minimum physical injuries. Leo took them all back to the Manor, where the shield will prevent demons from kidnapping them again." Piper explained.

All the Daughters breathed a sigh of relief. Keahi began to ask another question, when an energy ball bounced off the shield. All the women looked in the direction at the ball came from and saw the Source grinning evilly at them. Maliki was standing next to him.

"I trust I'm interrupting?" he said sarcastically.

Kesia growled in her anger. "Of course. Don't mind us, though. You're attacks can't surpass the shield."

"Oh. So you all are cowards. Unwilling to fight me on even terms? Pity."

Keahi saw red. "Look you stupid piece of horse shit. We are not cowards." She turned to Kesia. "Drop the shield."

Kesia looked at her in shock. "Now you choose to lose your legendary temper? You are certainly full of surprises today." She sighed. "I'm not dropping the shield yet. I will, but only when the time is right." She looked back at the Source and his minion. "I see that you got your minion back."

The Source laughed. "Oh, yes. I guess you are not as strong as you thought you were. He escaped and brought me the invulnerability potion." He held up a vile of potion and in a blink of the eye, swallowed it. "Now you are subject to my attacks and I am impervious to your attacks."

All the women laughed. Keahi got control of herself first. "Really? Do you really think that a lowly demon like that would be able to break through my shields? I really did not think you would be so stupid to fall for that!" She saw the look of confusion on the two demons faces and elaborated. "We let him go. That potion that you just swallowed, _Nen_, is to sever your tie with Mother before we kill you."

The Source looked confused for a moment. "What? What did you call me?"

Kai took up the thread. "She called you, Nen. That is your name. A water demon from Ancient Egypt that was pissed off because Aqua dumped you and you lost your chance to corrupt a Daughter of Gaia."

"How in the nine hells do you know that!" he shouted.

"We are the Daughters of Gaia. You really did think that we wouldn't learn about that? Really." Kim said as she rolled her eyes.

Kesia said, "We also learned about the spell and potion that you used to tie yourself to Mother, so that as long as she was alive, so you would also be. I bet you didn't figure that we would find the potion to reverse the bonding, did you?"

"And you didn't think that we would be crafty enough to _engineer_ a plan to get you to drink it without knowing it? Really? How have you been able to stay in power all these years when you are so utterly stupid and you keep underestimating your opponents?" Kansas asked.

Nen growled in his anger and turned to Maliki. "You worthless piece of demon." He quickly threw an energy ball at him which made him disappear into a bunch of ashes. "Well, Daughters of Gaia," he sneered. "I give you credit for a well thought of plan." He tried to shimmer out of the area, but the shield threw him back to the ground.

Piper looked at him in disbelief. "You really did underestimate us, didn't you? Did you really think that once you are in this shield you could leave? Now why would we allow that?"

Phoebe looked at him in disgust. "I'll make you pay for what you did to Cole."

Paige took over from there. "This ends now," she said simply while she nodded to Kesia.

Kesia took the hint and quickly dropped the shield. The group split into their respective pairs and quickly moved to surround him. Once again they were split up by direction, the same direction that they had begun in. They were in position in a matter of seconds.

The group met each other's eyes and began to chant.

"_The Power of Five and the Power of Three  
__Mother Gaia, Hear our plea.  
__To destroy the Source is what we seek  
__A demon named Nen who kills the meek.  
__Turn against him, land and sea.  
__As we will it, so mote it be."_

The clearing was enveloped in a radiant green light and the earth trembled after they were done chanting. The Source did not risk being blindsided with an attack and went on the offensive. He conjured up four spinning fireballs, each the size of a car and launched them at the groups.

Kim brought up a shield of lead as Kai put the fireball out with water. Kansas sent a gust of wind at the one aimed at them and slowed it down enough for Keahi to gain control of the glowing orb. Kesia brought up a wall of earth, while Paige yelled, "Fireball!" Both Paige and Keahi threw the fireballs back at Nen, who reabsorbed the energy easily.

Out of nowhere, a shield sprang around Phoebe and Piper, protecting them from the impact. They watched in fascination as the fire disintegrated against the shield. "Huh," said Piper. "I guess the Earth will protect those that are helpless against his attacks. Nice spell."

Nen looked stunned at the turn of events. He growled again and then began to launch multiple attacks against the women. All of the attacks were using the elements. Fire, water, wind, earth or metal. It didn't matter what he sent against them. If they themselves were not able to protect themselves, the Earth protected them.

The Daughters of Gaia began another chant.

"_Father Time hear our plea,  
__Strengthen the Power of Three.  
__To affect Nen is what we seek,  
__Slow a minute down to a week.  
__To destroy his evil is what we agree,  
__As we will it, so mote it be."_

The Charmed Ones looked on in surprise as the Source's movements slowed to a crawl. They looked at the Daughters.

Keahi smiled as she saw that her spell worked. "Piper!" she yelled. "Freeze him! You should have the power to do that now!"

Piper didn't stop to question her; she just threw out her hands and the Source stopped moving altogether. This signaled all of them to walk up to the now motionless demon.

"Okay. So what do we do now?" asked Paige.

The Daughters looked at one another. "We have a potion that Mother gave us. All we have to do is add our blood to it," Keahi started. "I didn't know if this was going to work, so I didn't tell you guys." She reached into her pocket and withdrew eight vials of a clear liquid. She handed each of the other women a vial with a clear cap on it. "Prick your finger and add your blood. Then we must all throw the potion on him at the same time. It will destroy him."

Quickly, they complied. Keahi watched as the potion turned red then back to clear. "It's ready. On the count of three. One. Two. Three!" All the women threw the potion at Nen at the same time. He unfroze as the potion hit him. He motioned to throw an energy ball at them, but stopped when his face contorted in agony.

"What did you do to me?"

The Daughters just smiled as his body began to contort. He tried to control himself and then in a burst of energy, which knocked the women to the ground, he exploded. Keahi picked herself up. "Never mess with Mother Earth. She has more ways to harm you than you can ever contemplate," she quipped as she stretched.

Piper, Phoebe and Paige looked on in amazement. "Is it over? Is he truly gone?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes. If he ever returns to this plane of existence, it will be as a cloud of gnats," Kesia said.

"Oh. Good," said Piper. "I'm just going to lay here for a bit. I'm exhausted."

The rest of the women agreed and in the clearing all lay down to get some well deserved rest.

* * *

**AN:** _Updated 9/18/07 for grammatical and spelling errors._


	11. The Balance Restored

**Disclaimer:**_ I do not own Charmed. If I did, I would be publishing this and making money from it! This is purely a plot idea in my head and I do not intend to make any money from it._

**AN: **_Okay. So now that I've made the lawyers happy…On with the story!! Please read and review! Lexi (my muse) really lives for getting reviews_

Chapter 11.

**The Balance Restored**

The women lay in the clearing for about an hour before deciding to head back to the manor. Finally, Piper sighed and said, "We'd better get back. Leo will be wondering where we are. Plus, it's time for you guys to see your men!"

Four of the Daughters smiled at that. Kesia had the brightest smile on her face. "I'm so glad that David is okay. I know that I am in love with him. I'm just not looking forward to the conversation I get to have with him." She scrunched her nose at the thought of the difficult conversation that lay ahead. She took a moment and quickly released the shield protecting the area. "Okay. The shield is gone. Paige, can you orb us all back to the manor or do you need Leo to help us?"

Paige thought for a moment. "I'm pretty sure I can do it. I've regained my strength. Everyone join hands."

The women joined hands and within a moment, all of the women were standing in the living room of the manor."

Four of the five men currently seated in the living room jumped at their arrival. "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" exclaimed David. Then he got a good look at the women, who all had various scratches and bruises on their bodies. "Kesia? Is that really you?"

Kesia smiled. "Yes, David. It's me." She looked at all the men in return. "I'm glad you are all here. We need to talk."

"Yes, we do," said a very subdued Darren. "Kim? What the hell is going on?"

Kim took a deep breath at the anger and hurt that was evident in his voice. "We'll explain. I promise. First, we need to all introduce ourselves."

Keahi smiled softly. "Okay. We'll start with all the women. I'm Keahi, I'm the youngest. On my right is Kim," she said as she pointed. "Next to her is Kansas, then Kai, then Kesia." Then she turned to introduce the Charmed Ones. "On my left is Paige, then Phoebe and next to her is Piper."

The guys nodded. David was the spokesman for the men. "I'm David. That's Mark, Ben and Darren," he stated as he pointed out the guys. "Now can we get our explanation?"

Kesia drew in a deep breath, as the women grabbed seats anywhere they could. "Okay. Let me go back to the beginning. Do any of you know who Gaia is?"

David was the only one who nodded his head. "According to mythology, she is the immortal that is responsible for the creation of the Earth, sky and stars. She also gave birth to the Titans and then the Greek gods."

Kesia raised her eyebrows at his quick, concise answer. "Correct, except it's not mythology. It's real. Anyway, after the fall of the Titans, Gaia decided that she did not want to be immortal anymore. So she came down to Earth, mated with a warlock and gave birth to five Daughters. One of who would be destined to take her place when she was ready to…retire, I suppose. The Daughter, who was chosen, is our mother. Her name was Aqua before she became the new Gaia."

Keahi decided to pick up from then. "It is required that before the new Gaia is chosen that the Daughters live on Earth, to gain experience. While Aqua was on Earth, she made a rather bad enemy. It was a water demon named Nen. He was attracted to her power and when she basically kicked him to the curb, he got pissed."

"Really pissed," said Kai. "He tied his life-force to hers, so that as long as she lived, so did he. Mother was chosen to become Gaia. Now, almost five thousand years later, she is ready to retire. So she had all of us."

Kansas nodded. "We've been coming down to Earth, one at a time, to gain experience. What we didn't know was that Nen would attack us once Keahi got here. He wanted to kill all of us to gain the power of the Earth."

Kim laughed. "Which, of course, is completely stupid since no man can control the power of the Earth. Earth will only accept a woman as a master, hence Mother Earth."

David nodded in understanding, while the other men looked confused. "I see, he thought that by killing you, he would weaken Gaia and gain her power."

"Exactly," said Kesia, impressed by his deduction. "What we didn't know was that he was tracking our movements. We did not realize that you guys would be in danger or we would have put protection spells on you."

Darren looked a little dazed. "Okay. I don't get it. If what you are saying is true, and not some psychotic break in all y'alls personalities, then why didn't you tell us?"

Kim rolled her eyes a little. "And how would you have reacted if I had told you that I'm a witch?"

"I would have packed you off to the nearest psychiatric hospital. I still don't believe you." He got up and walked around the couch. "Look. I can't deal with this. I need to go. How do I get home from here?"

Kim looked a little shocked that he was leaving. "You're in San Francisco. Unless you have money for a plane ticket, you're staying for a while."

Darren felt his temper snap. "Fine, whatever. I'm getting away from all you crazy people." Will that statement, he walked up the stairs and disappeared.

Kim watched him leave with pain evident in her eyes. Her eyes glistened as she walked into the kitchen.

Phoebe watched her go with a feeling of empathy. She looked at the other women and said, "Let me go talk to her." She turned to Leo and said, "Leo? Can you go check on Darren?"

Leo smiled. "Of course. He's just having a hard time dealing with this. It's a lot to take in."

Phoebe smiled. "I know. Just make sure that he is okay." She turned and followed Kim into the kitchen.

Everyone else was silent for a moment. Piper looked at the couples. "Why don't you guys split up and spend some time talking one on one? I think that will help you come to terms with what has happened.

Kesia met Piper's gaze. "Good idea." She turned to David and said, "David? Why don't we go outside in the back yard?" David nodded his agreement and they walked out the back entrance hand in hand.

Kai held her hand out to Ben and together they walked into the sitting room, while Kansas took a seat across from Mark.

* * *

When Kesia and David got outside, they decided to sit on the patio. She looked at him. "I don't get it. All of you guys should be freaking out over everything that has happened. Why aren't you?"

David smiled. "Me, personally? I've suspected something. There is a reason that I know all about Gaia. Magic is present in my family. It just skips generations. My mother was a witch. She taught me everything that she knew, so that way I could teach my kids."

Kesia felt a light go on in her head. "Wait. When we graduated from the academy and you met, Casey, you gave me a strange look. What was that for?"

"Casey…" David laughed as he said that name. "I know that he is Kronos. I saw him when I was little. My mother used to call upon him to help her out. I'm sure he doesn't recognize me. I've changed a bit."

"Oh," said Kesia. "Is she still alive? What power did she have?"

David felt himself grow nostalgic. "She died when I was fifteen. A demon killed her. She controlled time."

"I'm sorry. You know, you might talk to Piper if you have any questions about her power. Piper also controls time."

David smiled. "Not necessary. Mother taught me everything that she knew." He turned and grasped Kesia's chin lightly with fingers. "I think we've talked enough. I've missed you." He lowered his head and lightly caressed her lips with his own.

* * *

Ben followed Kai into the sitting room. Kai looked at him, a little uncertain. "So…"

"So…" Ben trailed off. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Okay. I'm trying to wrap my head around this. So basically, you guys are the daughters of Gaia. Magic exists."

Kai smiled at him. "Yeah. We basically represent each of the elements."

"I thought there were only four elements."

Kai smiled at him. "Nope. There are five. Earth, fire, wind, water and metal."

Ben looked at her. "So which element are you?"

Kai looked at him. "I'm water. Kesia is earth, Kansas…wind, Kim…metal and Keahi is fire."

"Oh." He looked at her. "So, all those time you were running off, was there something else going on?"

Kai nodded. "Yes. I was going to fight demons, to save innocents. That's what good witches do."

"Wait," said Ben. "Kai, you control water. Is that the reason you keep beating me at surfing?"

Kai laughed. "No. I don't use my powers for personal gain. I'm just a good surfer."

"Can you show me your power?"

"Sure." Kai concentrated on the glass of water in front of him. Slowly the water began to move upwards, out of the glass. She made the water swirl into a water spout and then slowly lowered the water back into the glass.

"Cool," Ben said with admiration in his voice.

"It's all right. It was a lot of hard work growing up. To have so much power that can be easily corrupted…I really admire Mother for the way she raised us. She taught us so much, but didn't try to force us to choose a side. She let us make our own decisions."

"It should like you had a really great life growing up. I'm kinda jealous about that. I had an okay childhood, but my parents wanted to dictate my life. That's why I work at the marina. It's my form of rebellion."

Kai nodded. She leaned forward and grasped his hand and they continued to talk about growing up. Kai felt a sense of relief at being completely honest with him for the first time since they met.

* * *

Kansas looked at Mark. "I'm sorry. I should have been honest with you, but it's just such huge issue. I wanted to…be normal."

Mark nodded. "I understand that. I'm just a little hurt that you would continually lie to me. I'll be honest. I'm still in a little bit of shock. I never even imagined that things like this existed in the real world. I thought it was all fantasy."

Kansas laughed. "Most people that I know react the same way. I'm just beating myself up that I didn't come clean when I had to leave."

Mark nodded. "Yeah. Just a note saying that you had to leave to help out a sister was a little…"

"Rude?"

"I really didn't want to say that, but yeah. It was a little rude. Look. I promise that I will not react like Darren, but I'll need some time to really process this once we get home."

Kansas nodded, her heart saddening a little bit. "I'm okay with that. As long as you don't run screaming from me, I'll be all right."

Mark laughed. "I can promise you that I won't run screaming. Why don't you tell me what it's like being a witch?"

"That I can do," Kansas said as she settled back into the chair.

* * *

Leo followed Darren up into Phoebe's room. He knocked softly before entering. "Darren? Are you okay?"

Darren turned, still furious. "No, I'm not okay. My girlfriend, whom I love, is a freak! She's lied to me for the entire time that I've known her and because of her, I got kidnapped by something that is worse than even my worst nightmare. Why would I be okay?"

Leo nodded, understanding his rage. "Those are all valid points. Look. I can tell you why I think that she lied to you, but you really need to talk to Kim about this. Do you know what it's like to grow up being different?"

Darren nodded. "Yes, I do. I was adopted into a very small community, who pointed out how different I was every single day."

Leo sighed. "That's a little like it, but she has had to grow up with a huge responsibility on her shoulders. Look. One of the Five Daughters is going to be chosen as a new Gaia. Do you know what at entails?"

Darren just shrugged his shoulders.

Leo took that as a sign to continue. "That means that one of them will have to leave whatever life they have built here on Earth and become part of the Earth. She will be responsible for protecting all nature. She will also have to become neutral in all fights between good and evil. That's the rule. Earth and Time have to be neutral."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not a liberty to go into specifics, but ask Kim to tell you about what happened after her mother was chosen to be Gaia."

Darren sighed. "I'm so confused."

Leo laughed softly. "Then you are human. Let me ask you a couple of questions. Do you love Kim? Can you imagine your life without her?"

Darren thought about those questions for a couple of minutes. "Yes and no, I can't."

"Then be patient and ask Kim to explain her life to you. I know this for a fact. If her feelings are anything like yours, she would have come clean eventually. Go talk to her. She's in the kitchen."

* * *

When Phoebe walked into the kitchen, she found Kim sitting at the island, her shoulders shaking in her tears. "Kim? It will be okay. He'll come to his senses."

Kim looked up as Phoebe sat next o her. "You think? I feel so bad. If I had just been honest with him, he would not have gotten into this position."

Phoebe looked at her. "Look. You can't beat yourself up for something that you had no control over. You can not predict the future! Even though I have the gift for premonitions, I can't always predict what is going to happen. The future is fluid. It changes with very single decision we make. You could have told him and he might still have been kidnapped. When he calms down, talk to him."

"Can it be that simple?"

Phoebe laughed. "The matters of the heart are never simple, but yeah. Sometimes it just takes a step and I think that all of you are due for a little honesty."

Phoebe was about to continue when Kronos appeared.

Kim looked at him. "Kronos? What's going on?"

He smiled. "I want to talk to everyone, including the guys."

* * *

Kronos waited patiently while the group of thirteen people reassembled in the living room.

Kesia smiled as she saw him sitting down. "Hey, Kronos."

"Hi, Earth shaker. How are you?"

"I'm good. What's going on?"

"I'll explain when everyone is here." He turned to David. "Nice to actually get to meet you, David." Kronos smiled at him. "Your mother was a very special person. It's not often that someone who has the power to control time actually calls on me for help. When they do, I make it my business to get to know them and their families." He turned to the women once they had assembled. "I'm here because your mother wants to see you. I'm here to take all of you back to the fortress."

Keahi looked at him. "Just us Daughters or everyone?"

"Everyone. Including the guys. I'm here to bring you all up there."

"Why?" asked Leo.

"That's for her to reveal. Is everyone ready?" At the confused nods, he continued, "If everyone will hold hands, I'll take everyone up there."

Everyone grasped hands and soon they were standing in Gaia's fortress. The kidnapped men stared in awe at the white marble that made up the entryway.

"Wow," said David. "This is amazing."

The Daughters just smiled as they heard a door opening.

"My Daughters!" Gaia cried out in joy. The women ran to each other and held each other close in a group hug. "I'm so glad that you are all safe. I'm so sorry that I couldn't tell you everything about Nen. It's against the rules. This was your test to see who would be ready to become Mother Earth."

Keahi drew back at her comment. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that the time is right for me to retire. One of you is to be chosen within the next week to become Gaia. That is the reason that I called you all up here today. You, my daughters, need time to prepare for the ceremony. I also wanted to talk to the Charmed Ones and your young men." Gaia looked up at the group of eight people who were watching them silently.

_:Daughters? Could you please leave us alone for a bit?:_ Gaia sent telepathically. The Daughters each nodded slightly and made their excuses to leave the room.

Piper saw through the guise. "You wanted to talk with us, Gaia?"

"Yes. I wanted to thank you, Phoebe and Paige for keeping my daughters safe. I gave you as many clues as I could and I'm glad that you were able to decipher them." She turned to the men. "I understand that you guys have had a rough time the last couple of days. I want to extend my apologies. It was my own arrogance that put myself into this situation. I am truly sorry that you were sucked into this mess."

The guys looked stunned; each stood there silently, unable for form a response.

Gaia looked at them. "I understand if you have not come to terms with everything that has happened, but I would like to extend you a courtesy."

David looked at her with a question in his eyes. "What kind of courtesy?"

"I want every single one of you to be present when the next Gaia is chosen. I truly believe that if my mother had done that for us, my sisters would not have been brutally murdered after I was chosen."

Darren caught the sadness in her voice at that. "What do you mean?"

Gaia sighed. "Well, after Nen tied his life to mine, he strove to find a way to unbalance me. In doing so, he corrupted each of my sister's husbands and through them…he sent demons to kill them. One each day after I was chosen. You see, their husbands had no knowledge of what kind of magic that they held. My sisters tried to tell them, to show them, but they didn't believe the kind of danger that they could be put in. From what I was able to gather, once the demon killed their husbands, they took on their form and killed my sisters in their sleep."

Darren looked shaken at the danger that not believing Kim could put him in and silently promised himself to try to understand.

David looked resolved to never let anything like that happen to Kesia and himself.

Both Mark and Ben looked shaken but determined.

Gaia smiled. "That's everything I wanted to say to you. Now, I say this. Go home. Go back to your lives. Try to process everything that has happened, but I will send Kronos for you in a week, on the Day of Choosing. I'll make sure that it doesn't coincide with anyone's schedules."

The four men nodded in shock, while Leo and the Charmed Ones looked on. Kronos walked over to them. "Let me take you back home. Leo, Piper, Phoebe and Paige, do you mind staying here until I get them home safely?"

Piper smiled. "Not a problem. Leo can also take us home."

"Of course. If I don't see you again, blessed be." With that blessing, Kronos and the four mortals disappeared from sight.

Paige looked at Gaia. "Why do you want us to be here?"

Gaia smiled. "If not for you, it's highly likely that my Daughters would be dead. It's the least I can do to repay you."

Phoebe rushed to answer her. "You don't owe us anything! The Source has been a thorn in our side for way to long. It was worth everything to defeat him."

Gaia nodded. "I still owe you a debt. Why don't you head back to the Manor? You three are up for a well deserved rest. I promise I will send Kronos for you when the time is right."

The Charmed Ones nodded. They grasped hands with Leo and soon were standing back in the Manor.

* * *

The Charmed Ones were ready when Kronos appeared. Silently they linked hands and prepared to leave. When they arrived at the fortress, Kronos left them in a large room with a pentagram tiled into the floor.

Phoebe looked around the room in amazement. "Wouldn't it be great to have workroom like this?"

Paige nodded her agreement. "It would. It's so spacious and I think that there are protection spells on it.

Piper was about to talk when Kronos showed back up with the guys. "Hi, guys. How are you doing? Have you processed everything yet?"

David nodded. "Yeah, but I have experience in this. My mother was a witch."

Piper laughed. "That helps. What about you Darren? I know that this completely freaked you out."

Darren looked at her. "I'm a little better. I'm still in a little shock, but I love Kim. I'm willing to accept her as she is."

Mark and Ben smiled. Ben patted him on the back. "So you did take the fall."

"What?"

"You just admitted that you love Kim," said Mark. "That's the first step in acceptance."

Darren laughed. "I've known that I've loved her since I first asked her out. I just finally understood why she lied to me."

Phoebe nodded. "Love conquers all," she quipped.

Darren was about to say more, when Gaia and Kronos entered the room. Gaia nodded to the assembly. "It's time," she stated simply.

Gaia and Kronos moved to the side of the door and the five Daughters walked in. Each was wearing a white Grecian inspired gown. They were accented by belts that each invoked the color of their elements. Each moved to a point on the pentagram.

Gaia began to speak in Latin. _"EGO dico super vox of orbis terrarum. Terra, ventus, unda, incendia, quod metal. Is est vicis pro Choice. Terra est promptus parumper transitus. Cui should is veneratio peto?"_

A bright light entered the room and a wind began to circle the daughters. The wind circled each daughter once and moved on. When the wind was done, Gaia began to chant again. _"Quinque elementum exertus. Quod unus mos gero pallium de vox?"_

The wind began to circle again. It finally settled around Keahi bringing with it the purest light. Gaia smiled. "Keahi, you've been chosen to be my successor."

The other four Daughters felt relief that they could go back to their life on Earth, while Keahi felt like she was in shock. "What? Me? Why?"

Gaia laughed. "My dear, you showed the most leadership of all of you. You managed to keep a clear head throughout the whole ordeal. In short, you reacted like I would have. That's why you were Chosen."

Keahi nodded. "I feel so much honor at being Chosen." She turned to her sisters. "I'm glad that it was me, though. You guys have lives down there. You have men who love you, who are willing to go the distance with you. That is a bigger honor than what I have."

The daughters nodded, with tears in their eyes. "We're going to miss you, little sis," said Kesia. The other girls nodded their agreement. "I was pretty sure that you would be the one Chosen. You were better at leading us then I was. Which is strange, since I'm the oldest."

Keahi laughed. "I'm going to miss you. All of you. I'll keep a watchful eye out for you."

Gaia cleared her throat. "If you'll excuse us, Keahi and I have quite a few things to discuss before she inherits my power. Kronos is available to take everyone home, when you want to go." Gaia extended her hand to Keahi and they both walked out of the room.

Kesia walked over to David. "I'm glad you came. Are you ready to go home?"

David smiled. "I wouldn't have missed this for the world. It's not every day that I get to see history being made. I'm ready whenever you are."

Kesia smiled when she saw the glint in his eyes. "Kronos? Can you take us back to New York, now?"

Kronos smiled. "Of course. Let's go."

Ben walked over to Kai and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You look fabulous."

Kai looked at him, her love shining from her eyes. "Thank you. How are you doing?"

Ben sighed. "I'm still a little freaked out about demons, but I admire you for helping people out. You're an inspiration for me. Actually, I've decided to open a center for inner city kids that will give them the experience of going deep sea fishing."

Kai looked at him in shock. "That's a great idea. That just makes me love you even more. Let's go walk in the gardens, until Kronos gets back."

Ben smiled and grabbed her hand for the short walk.

Mark watched as Kai and Ben walked out of the room. He took their happiness to heart and walked over to Kansas.

Kansas smiled as Mark walked over. He started to say something but she cut him off with an abrupt kiss. When she withdrew from him, he looked stunned and she smiled. "I know you have a lot to process, but I'm not going to let you do it alone."

"I…um…Okay. Just be honest with me from now on and we have a deal," Mark said. He didn't wait for her answer, he just drew her back into a kiss.

Kim watched the easy way that Mark and Kansas were with each other. She sighed, knowing that it was possible that Darren would never speak to her again. She kept her eyes on the floor, not willing to look at him and get her heart broken. She jumped when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. She looked up and got lost in the emotion in Darren's eyes. "Darren?"

"Kim." Darren sighed as well. "I'm not going to pretend that we can just pick up where we left off. I think that I've changed as a person." He noticed that he was about to say something and placed a finger on her lips. "Let me finish."

Kim saw the struggle that he was going through and nodded her head in agreement.

"Anyway. I'm sorry about what I said to you after we were rescued. I was confused. I had no idea what was going on. Then you tell me that you were a witch. Something that I had never believed in. I lashed out and for that I'm sorry. I'm not going to apologize for feeling angry that you lied to me, but I let my temper get the better of me. But, I wanted to tell you that I'm over my anger. I want to start over with you. I know I love you and I have since the first day that I met you. Now I want to get know the real you."

Kim looked at him, tears in her eyes. "I can't believe that you can forgive me just like that. I'd love to start over with you." Kim started to laugh as she pulled out of his arms. She stuck out her hand and said, "Hi. My name is Kim. I'm one of the Daughters of Gaia and a witch. I fight to save innocent people from demons, so that they can have a good life. What's your name?"

Darren laughed, too. "My name is Darren. I'm the lead singer of a rock band in Dallas. Nice to meet you." They both started to laugh as they started to have the first honest conversation of their relationship.

Leo and the Charmed Ones looked on at the relationships that were budding around them. Piper looked at her sisters. "Everything is going to be alright now." She turned to Leo. "Let's go home now.

Leo smiled as they held hands. With the knowledge that a great evil was gone from the world and that the Earth had a good mistress, the orbed back to the manor.

_Fini_

**AN:** _Updated 9/18/07 for grammatical and spelling errors._


End file.
